Murdoch in India
by SisterPet
Summary: Julia goes missing and is presumed dead while on a medical mission to India. Murdoch goes to find her. (This story starts exactly where Dead man's handle left off.)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Thank you for coming," Serge looked thinner, his face drawn and gaunt, as if he was already halfway into the spirit world.

"You asked for me," Julia stated, and settled across the table from him. Murdoch stood behind her, and she did not need to look at him to know his eyes were cool and calculating.

"I thought you might have questions?" he said softly, then placed his cuffed hands on the table and leant towards her.

"The first one being: why are we here?" Murdoch snapped, and Julia bit back a sigh, he might have made arrangements for her to be here, but he certainly did not like it. The man had murdered two women in a most brutal way, while his mother harvested their organs. He'd gone on to single-mindedly try to kidnap Julia, were it not for a cave in that shook the town and killed his mother, he might have succeeded.

"Whatever my methods Doctor, my research into harvesting organs and blood anomalies is vast, I do not want to see it disappear, "Serge said, and slid a tattered and torn miniature painting across the table to her. The warden frowned at it, and Murdoch frowned at the warden, prisoners were not supposed to have any personal effects on them.

Julia took it and studied it for a moment, a small redheaded child with eyes filled with laughter looked out of that painting. She had her father's dark eyes, a lot suddenly made sense and she handed the picture back to him, giving the warden a defiant glare.

"Siobhan, my only living child, was diagnosed with Diabetes two years ago, the same Diabetes that took eleven of my mother's twelve children, and five of mine," his voice shook as he spoke, "she's ten years old, and unless I find some way of cleaning her blood and repairing or replacing her organs she will never make it through puberty."

"I want you to get my notes, and my research, use it Doctor, find a cure for Siobhan and others like her," he turned the miniature over and pulled a piece of paper out of the back.

Julia hesitated but took the paper, there was a roughly drawn map of the underground sewers with a spot marked.

"I am not a scientist, Samuel…" she would have said more, but Murdoch gripped her arm and pulled her out of the chair. Julia was so shocked that she rose and let him lead her from the room.

"William…" her words were stopped by the look on his face, it was both stricken and angry.

"I'm sorry I did not want you making promises that you would regret later," he said, as he took her hand and put it though his arm.

"You cannot use his research Julia," William said as he firmly led her from the prison building.

Julia frowned and stopped walking, "I beg your pardon?"

Murdoch slipped an arm around her waist and urged her forward again, "people died for that research, their blood is on every find and discovery, morally using it is reprehensible, even if it is to save lives."

She wanted to argue, stamp her foot and scream, and yet she should not because he was right, but that did not stop her trying, "this won't just save some lives William, it will save hundreds of people, hundreds of children who are at this moment gripped by any number of blood disorders, this research could be the breakthrough of finding a cure for them,"

"Using it would be condoning what Serge and his mother have done, surely you can see that Julia." Murdoch argued, his voice filled with frustration, she could hear how strongly he felt about it. Years of pacifying the male species around her, of biting her tongue and keeping her own council when a fight would not gain her anything, kept her silent now. Arguing with him about this would bring her nothing, he would not be moved on his stand, and in all honesty she partly agreed with him.

They walked in silence for a while, a silence that stretched on longer than she realized as her thoughts consumed her.

"I'm sorry Julia, my tone was harsh," William stopped and turned to face her, for a second Julia wondered what she'd missed, before she realized that he'd mistaken her silence for anger.

"You were passionate William, I am not angry," she cupped his cheek, Murdoch's eyes heated up and he caught her hand in his, dropping a sly little kiss in her palm before tucking it back through his arm.

"What are you going to do?" he finally asked as they entered a small park and continued walking. Julia shook her head.

"I will look at his notes and then decide," she said. There was another thought on her mind, this whole discussion had distracted her from that, but she knew she'd left it too long already.

"When would you want to get it?" he asked carefully Julia winced and stopped. There was a little bench overlooking a small duck pond and she sank down onto it. Murdoch's eyes narrowed as he watched her face.

"Julia, is something amiss?"

"Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the horror and ugliness our jobs expose us to?" she asked, watching the children on the other side of the pond trying to entice the ducks closer with bits of stale bread.

Murdoch sat down beside her and took her hand in his, "yes, often, but I would feel even worse if I were not doing something about it," he said it carefully as if not sure what her question meant and uneasy about his answer.

"Julia if you are unhappy…" he hesitated, "if I have made you unhappy…" he searched for words around a rapidly growing terror that her unhappiness came from him, and for the first time in his life Murdoch flinched from the truth. He didn't want to know, didn't want to hear her say that the utter unadulterated joy he felt at waking up every morning with her was not the same for her. So he pulled his hand back and rose, bracing himself, trying to keep the ripping pain around his heart from making him scream out loud.

"William, for an intelligent man you really are a dolt!" Julia snapped, jumping to her feet and stomping over to him, she fairly twitched with rage.

"I'm unhappy with my job, not you, never you!" her snarl turned into a squeal when he grabbed her in a tight hug that lifted her off her feet. Her breath was stolen again when he put her down and kissed her so deeply she saw stars.

"We're in public," she managed to gasp out when he finally let her go, but she was glad for his arms around her because her knees were very weak.

Murdoch ducked his head and grinned, "there is a very thick little wilderness behind here," he whispered in her ear, dropping a soft kiss on that sensitive spot on her neck where it met her shoulder. He'd learnt that it was one of his wife's many erogenous buttons. Julia dropped her head on his shoulder for just a moment, then stepped back out of his arms.

"As tempting as that is William, there is something I need to tell you and it cannot wait any longer," she sighed and taking his hand lead him back to the bench.

Just that quickly all laughter and fun was gone from his face and Murdoch felt himself stiffen up, only this time it was without the gut wrenching fear.

"Doctor Roberts came to see me last week," she started when he'd settled himself beside her, she tried to take her hand out of his, but he held on, refusing to let go.

"He's ill William, he has Huntington disease," she told him.

"Is there a cure for that?" Murdoch asked with a frown.

Julia shook her head, "sadly no, it's a hereditary disease," she sighed, squeezing his hand, she knew that like her, William had grown fond of Doctor Roberts, this would be hard on them both.

"He's dying," she said it softly, for a man who worked with the dead every day, Murdoch was surprisingly sensitive to the loss of people he knew and liked.

"Is there nothing we can do?" he asked, his face filled with sorrow.

"I'm afraid not," she said. Murdoch sat in silence for a moment and Julia waited, while his phenomenal brain ticked the problem around and around.

"Is that why he came to see you? To tell you this?" he finally asked turning to look at her. Julia avoided his eyes when she shook her head.

"Not exactly," she hesitated just a fraction, and in that short space of time she could feel him stiffen up.

"What is it that you don't want to tell me?" he snapped, and she jumped a little.

"He's offered me the position as head of psychiatry at the Woman's Asylum," the words came out in a rush.

"But you are not a psychiatrist?" he said it was half question half statement. Julia finally met his eyes.

"Not yet, but he has obtained me a place at the University of Vienna where I will train under Sigmund Freud himself." She waited, knowing that this was a turning point for both of them, Murdoch had made a vow before they got married that he would stand by any and all her decisions, this would be the strongest test of that vow.

"Is this what you want to do?" he finally asked, which was surprisingly not the question she had expected.

"Yes, yes I do," she said firmly. Murdoch rose and pulled her to her feet, tucking her arm into his he gently steered her towards home.

"Tell me more about these classes you will be attending," he said as they started walking. Julia felt a weight lift off her shoulders, she truly was blessed with a husband unlike any other.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Murdoch parked his bike around the side of the house and ran up the steps. He had every intention of taking his beautiful wife to a quiet little pond in the country, and coax her into reliving her wicked college day prank of bathing sans clothing.

At this moment life was perfect, frighteningly so, having Julia back by his side was a joy that filled him so deeply it was almost reverence. He tried not to be smug with it, tried desperately not to preen just a little at work when he left to go home, and they all knew who he was going home to. The single men like George and Henry watched him with envy and Murdoch knew exactly how they felt. The months Julia had been in Vienna had been hard, harder than before they'd come together, because now he knew the difference she made in his life and he'd felt her absence keenly.

He stepped into the house, their home still had a lot of work to go in the renovating, but neither of them were in a hurry. They had her home in the city for the days when work and responsibilities made it impossible for them to get out here. The added bonus was having a house full of servants, and most importantly, a cook.

"Julia?" he called as he hung his hat up.

The sound of scrubbing was the only reply he got and he followed it into the kitchen, he froze in the doorway. Every cell in his body instantly aroused as the first thing that greeted him was Julia's very shapely bottom, perfectly outlined and lovingly displayed in a very worn pair of his trousers. It bobbed up and down in a hypnotic rhythm that was making him sweat.

"Why are you scrubbing the floor? Where is Mrs. Kitching?" he asked pushing his hands into his pockets to stop them from grabbing her.

Mrs. Kitching was the jolly middle aged woman Julia had arranged to keep house for William while she was away, she'd known he would pine, and the woman's happy nature and easy kindness were perfect for keeping him from moping. Keeping her on after Julia's return was practical for all of them.

"Attending her daughters lie in. I think it's the third daughter giving birth in the last two months since my return," she said shortly, dumping the brush into the bucket and sloshing more water on an already damp floor.

Arousal took a back seat in the instant he saw the pain in her eyes. "Julia, the floor can wait," he said gently, but she just scrubbed harder. He realized a lot more than their housekeeper's fertile daughters was upsetting her.

He'd seen the sadness in her whenever she was reminded that she would never have the joy of her own children and it worried him.

"Very well then, we shall scrub the floors," he said, slipping off his shoes, and bent down to yank off his sock, there was just no dignified way for a man to do that while standing, but as he bent to pull off the other one, he got a glimpse of his wife's flushed face and she was most delightedly staring at his rear with a growing passion in her eyes.

It was a lightning strike straight to his groin, leaving him almost trembling with arousal. He slipped his suspenders down and his shirt off as he rose and turned to face her. Julia had settled back on her heels and was watching him with unashamed desire.

The shirt that she'd stolen from him clung to her in wet patches, one of which outlined her breast perfectly, water turning the material almost transparent. William fought back the almost overpowering need to dive on her and drive them both to release.

"Doctor Ogden, a complaint of clothing theft and indecency has been laid against you," he murmured.

Julia raised one of her brows and gave him a smile filled with mischief, "really Detective?"

"I'm afraid I must investigate and if you are found guilty I must discipline you most severely." He said sternly.

"Discipline?" her voice got that wonderful little squeak when she was shocked, angry or in this case aroused.

"Indeed," Murdoch said, crouching down before her, with quick deft fingers he plucked open the buttons of the shirt and spread the sides apart. His breath caught in his throat, she was perfection, pink and cream perfection and it would take him ten lifetimes to get enough of her.

"Detective Murdoch I must protest my innocence, the clothing was left hanging in my closet. I simply assumed they were mine," she croaked out on a moan as he brushed his hands so very gently over her breast, feather light brush of his fingers around the globes to the tip.

"Did you purchase the clothing?" Murdoch asked, his mouth moving over hers, teasingly brushing his lips along hers but not deepening the kiss.

Julia did not answer, she swayed towards him her lips slightly parted, but he had no intention of making this quick so he pulled back just enough.

"Doctor I asked you a questions," he demanded.

Julia snapped back and narrowed her eyes at him, "the devil with your questions Murdoch, I demand to see my barrister," she quipped.

Murdoch reached down and bit her nipple, hard enough to make her groan, but not so that it hurt her. Julia cried out, wanting to drag his head closer, but her hands were wet with soapy water.

Murdoch gave the abused nipple a little lick, then sat back admiring his handy work.

"Now I ask again Doctor, did you purchase the clothing?" he asked, his voice husky with need. Julia shook her head.

"Then I'm afraid it is indeed theft," he stated taking her hands he pushed them down onto the scrubbing brush and pulled her forward. The position he put her in left her stretched out just over the floor with her bottom up in the air.

"Now I can't have you slacking in your duties to this floor, Doctor Ogden, but I must administer a firm punishment for your crimes," the fiend murmured as reached out and loosened the rope holding the stolen pants up. Julia started to sit up, but he gently pushed her back into position.

"Keep cleaning," he ordered, and rose to his feet. Julia gave him a heated look of warning and Murdoch was reminded that his wife was not above tackling him to the floor and taking matters into her own hands.

It was a battle not to do what both their bodies were screaming for, but he wanted to distract her so completely that the sadness in her would be burnt away, at least for today.

He reached up behind his neck and pulled up his undershirt, Julia watched him with heated appreciation, he let the material slip slowly up his torso, and over his head.

She was mesmerized, the naked desire in her eyes always made him want to puff out his chest and preen for her. When she licked her lips, a bolt of pure lust arrowed straight down to his groin and it became painfully clear that Julia would always have the upper hand in their little games, she could send him into a mindless rut with just a look.

"The floor Doctor Ogden!" he managed to say, though it came out a husky croak instead of the stern order he'd been going for.

"That's Mrs. Murdoch to you copper," she snickered, doing an incredibly apt Brackenreid impression, but it was the words that froze him in place. He was happy for her to keep her name and her title, but there was something almost erotic about hearing her call herself that, a purely masculine sense of ownership settled over him and it brought him down to his knees beside her.

"Say it again," he ordered, his hand sliding down her back, pushing the loosened trousers with it.

Julia gasped as the hand slid over her rump, and the trousers pooled around her knees.

"Mrs. Murdoch," she whispered out on a groan as his fingers slid through her moist folds.

"Again!" he snarled as he moved up behind her.

"Mrs…" she caught her breath on a keening moan as he breached her with the tip of his cock. She tried to drive back against him, desperate for him to fill her, but he held her waist in an iron grip.

"Say it!" a harsh groaned demand.

"Husband!" she cried out. It was as if a whip had landed on his backside, he snapped up and drove forward in one hard thrust.

Too hard as it turned out. The force of his entrance shoved Julia forward and into the bucket. It tipped, spilling a flood of soapy, slippery water over them and the floor.

William suddenly found himself sprawled flat on the floor beside his wife, both of them drenched. Julia's flushed face swam into view as he gently tried to ease her off her stomach and out from under a ton of sopping hair.

She took one look at him and a giggle snorted out of her nose, which was followed by a lot more giggles until she was clutching her sides in helpless laughter, William right alongside her. The two of them lay on the floor, completely exposed, laughing like loons, and Murdoch knew at that moment what true happiness really was.

When the laughter finally faded, and Julia managed to sit up to kicked off the sopping trousers, Murdoch slid his arm around her waist and slid her back down under him. He settled between her thighs, his arms cushioning her from the hard floor as he gently, reverently, and with a joyful smile on his face ease inside her. They stared into each other's eyes as he tenderly, and devastatingly drove them over the peak.

* * *

William walked into the house, every bone in his body screaming for rest. It had been a long day, and all he wanted to do was settle into bed with his wife and sleep for a week.

Julia had not been at the Asylum when he'd stopped there to pick her up, but it was not unusual for her to go ahead without him, it was late.

He hung up his hat, removed his coat and slid the suspenders off his aching shoulders, along with his tie.

The house was strangely quiet and he could not smell anything cooking or burning, the kitchen was empty, and he frowned as he made his way into the newly finished sitting room. Julia sat on the chair facing the door with a shot of whiskey in her hand. His heart did a flip at the expression on her face, it was muted thunder.

"Julia?"

She pulled something off her lap and tossed it to the floor at his feet, he didn't need to look at it to know what it was and he knew his bad day was about to get much worse.

"You lied to me, William," she said, and there was so much hurt and rage in her words, Murdoch expected the entire room to burst into flame at any moment.

"I thought it best," he said stepping over the papers on the floor and moving closer to her. She snarled at him, and he kept a good distance away from her, she was not above kicking out with those long legs of hers.

"Best for whom?"

"For you," he tried, but she rose out of that chair like an avenging angel and he was as always left breathless by her.

"You told me that part of the sewers had been flooded, and that Samuel's research was lost forever, and yet there it is. How is that best for me?"

"You know you cannot use it Julia! I wanted to spare you the pain of making that choice," he roared back, then tried to calm his voice, he knew his wife well enough to know she seldom responded well to anger.

"Julia, please sit, I will explain in a calm rational manner," he coaxed, reaching for her, she shoved him back then turned and stormed out the room and into the kitchen, Murdoch right on her heels.

"Julia!" frustration dripped from every syllable, "for goodness sake will you calm down." He demanded.

She stopped and turned on him again, but this time she cut him to the bone, there were tears in her eyes.

"You think so little of me and my moral compass that you would do this," she whispered, "you didn't do this to protect me, you did it because you do not trust me to make the decision you wanted me to," she stood across the room from him, arms crossed around her body as if to protect herself from hurt and that stabbed him even more than her words, and once again the words inside him bubbled and steamed, chocking him until he could not utter a single one.

Julia shook her head, one lone tear trickled down her cheek, she shook her head and stormed out the other door into the foyer.

Every time this had happened in the past he'd lost her, the fear of that was like a gunshot to his heart. He could not, and would not let her go again. His feet drove him across the foyer to her as she reached for her hat and he tore it out of her grasp and flung it across the room. She squeaked and spluttered as he grabbed both her shoulders and turned her to face him.

"You were going to read it yourself, and that is as good as using his research. Once you have learnt something you cannot unlearn it, and all his findings will color everything you do from that moment on." He snarled out, not letting her move an inch away from him despite her struggles.

"If you want to do it right, do your own research Julia, study and learn from the beginning, or rely on those men and women that are working on finding a cure without costing lives." It was a desperate plea for her to listen.

Julia stopped squirming and lifted a defiant chin, "you could have said that before, instead you lied to me," she snapped, "now let me go, I have no wish to stay in the same house with a man who does not trust or respect me." She ordered.

He couldn't, he just could not loose her again, the absolute terror of that left him completely and unreasonably unable to make his hands open and release her.

"Let me go!" she snarled, starting to struggle in earnest.

William's grip tightened, "I cannot," he whispered, and Julia froze at the panic in his voice. She looked at him, really looked, seeing past her own red haze of anger to the fear and anguish on his face.

She put a calming hand on his chest, "you're trembling William," she whispered, and instead of trying to move away she stepped closer to him, sliding her arms around his waist she gently rested her cheek against his. His grip loosened only long enough for him to pull her tighter against him and his arms closed around her like vices.

"I will sleep on the floor, or wherever you want Julia, just don't try to walk out that door tonight," he whispered.

Julia let him hold her for a long long time, until finally Murdoch managed to get his arms to loosen, and his hands to let her go. To give her credit she did not go far, she simply took his hand and lead him up the stairs.

They undressed in total silence, Julia behind the privacy screen. He felt jumpy the moment she disappeared from his sight, but listening to the sounds of her clothing rustling eased him. In his pajamas he climbed into the bed and waited. Julia came out from behind the screen and he realized that this was the first time since they married that she had not let him help her undress. She had on a long thick flannel night gown buttoned right up to the neck, giving him a cool warning look she slipping into the bed beside him, as far away from him as she could go.

Murdoch let her, giving her the space she needed, desperately trying to think of something to say that would bridge the gap between them. When her breathing became deep and even, he knew he'd missed his chance, she was asleep.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"You've been staring out that window for the last half an hour Murdoch, something on your mind?" Brackenreid asked as he stepped into Murdoch's office. Murdoch turned his head to face him, his automatic denial on the tip of his tongue.

"Have you ever lied to your wife?" he asked instead.

Brackenreid barked out a laugh, but settled himself against the desk, "I lie to Margret all the time, just not about anything that matters," he said.

"That's the trick Murdoch, men lie to their wives," he said, Murdoch raised an eyebrow but turned and leant back against the window frame.

"Wives lie to their husbands," he continued and Murdoch frowned at that, "oh you don't like that do you, me old mucker," Brackenreid rose and came closer, "I lie to my wife about how much I drink, and she lies to me about how much she spends," he said.

"The only reason it does not cause more problems between us Murdoch, is that we both know about the lies, and we both accept the necessity of them," he moved past him opened one of Murdoch's cabinets, rummaged in the back a moment then pulled out a bottle.

"Margret knows I drink more than I admit, but she also knows it's a lot less than I would if she did not nag me about it," he poured himself a stiff glass, toasted Murdoch with it and took a healthy swallow. Then he closed the bottle and put it back in the back of the cabinet.

"Just like I know that the pretty bonnet she's wearing today is not another old thing, but very new and probably cost enough that she'll be looking for an advance on the housekeeping money by the end of the week," he finished the whiskey, and put the glass on Murdoch's desk, "as long as you don't lie about anything that matters you'll be fine."

Murdoch sighed and slumped down onto his chair, "and if you did?" he muttered, then looked up at his boss, "If it was something that mattered?"

Brackenreid shook his head, all joviality gone from his face, "then you need to stop tripping over your tongue and go explain yourself," he said as he walked to the door, "and grovel, they like groveling, in fact be prepared to grovel a lot." He added over his shoulder.

Murdoch rose from his desk, he had no idea what he would say to Julia, or even if there were words enough in any language to make her understand and forgive him, but he knew he had to try, because loosing her was not an option he could face.

"Hello Julia,"

Julia's looked up as Darcy stepped into her office, his gentle smile made the corners of her lips turn up. Whatever had passed between them at the breakup of their engagement, Julia had loved him, and was still very fond of him. He was not a very forward thinking man, and he had very little imagination, but he was a good and honest man and he'd deserved better than a woman who's only reason for marrying him was to use him as a shield from the man she really loved.

"Darcy!" she rose and held out her hands to him, Darcy took them and reaching down kissed her on the cheek.

"You look ravishing, marriage certainly agrees with you," he said on a small grin, she grimaced but did not elaborate.

"As charming as ever," she said and gently extracted her hands from his grasp. Darcy didn't notice, he was completely fixed on her face.

"Is everything alright?" he asked carefully.

Julia waved that off with her hand, "everything is fine Darcy. What brings about this unexpected, but very welcome, visit?" she may be beyond angry with William, but she was not about to share that with the man she threw over to be with William.

"You know you can talk to me about anything. We are friends Julia, I hope our past troubles has not changed that," he moved back a little, twirling his hat in his hands.

"Of course we are still friends, and I promise you Darcy I am well," she moved over to the little sitting area in her office and settled in one of the armchairs. Darcy sat opposite her, his long frame making the very feminine furniture look even more delicate.

"I have been asked to contact you with a wonderful offer," he said, Julia frowned at him.

"What kind of offer?" she asked. He looked around, then settled his all seeing gaze back on her.

"A job offer actually," he stated softly. Julia's eyebrows shot up.

"I have a job," she snapped. He'd been against her changing to psychiatry, not having the imagination to understand the excitement of learning an entirely new field, he thought it was a result of her association with Murdoch, and that she'd done it purely to help him with his work.

"You know how I feel about this, but that is neither here nor there," he waved it away, "this is not an ordinary job Julia. Have you heard of Ida Scudder?"

Julia sighed but nodded, there were very few men in this world who would listen to a woman's argument, she knew of only two. Darcy was not one of them, it made her anger towards Murdoch soften just a little that he was.

"Of course I have heard of her, she was one of the first women admitted into the Cornell Medical College in New York," she said, "she returned to her family home in India if I remember correctly?" she asked frowning at him.

The clatter of dishes interrupted what he was about to say as a young man pulled in the tea trolly.

"Tea time Doctor Ogden," he said with a cheeky grin on his face, " I saw you had a guest so I brought a cup for 'im too."

Julia smiled warmly at the gangly youth, "thank you Andrew, is your little sister well?" She asked as she rose and walked with him from the room, Andrew's smile got warmer.

"She's doing much better with the medicine you gave her," he said, Julia had to resist the urge to ruffle his hair.

"Good, I left a bag of groceries in the kitchen for you," she said holding up her hand when he bristled, "it's not charity, I bought too much again and I would hate to see it wasted." She soothed.

Andrew narrowed his eyes at her but, doffed his cap and nodded a grumble, "thank you" as he left.

"Still trying to save the world?" Darcy asked with a small smirk on his face, Julia chose to ignore it but she badly wanted to bash him over the head.

"You were saying?" she prompted as she sat down and poured his tea.

"I'm sorry Julia, that was uncalled for," Darcy sighed as she handed him his tea exactly how he liked it, "yes, Doctor Ida is in India, she's building a teaching and nursing hospital for Indian women." He said.

"The Queen thinks this is good idea and has set her own physicians to form a party of doctors to go to some of the more distant and unreachable places in that country," he looked at her with an excited grin, "they have asked for you Julia, they want you to join the party."

Julia gaped at him, "me?"

"Don't look so shocked, for a woman you are a good doctor," Darcy said it with a proud smile on his face, never once realizing he'd just insulted her.

"Thank you so much," she hissed through clenched teeth, not loosing the sweet smile on her face.

"Besides Julia they need a female that's not too old to travel," he added.

"Please stop the flattery Darcy, I'm quite overwhelmed," Julia said, fighting back the overwhelming urge to toss the teapot over his head.

"I'm sure you are my dear, it is an overwhelming offer," he said reaching over and patting her hand.

"Quite," she moved her hand away from his, and he blushed a little as he realized he'd been holding it longer than was proper, "are you going?" she asked.

Darcy colored even more and shook his head, "no, I was only contacted because of my past connection with you," anger slid through the easy expression on his face, "they felt it more proper for me to approach you initially, as a form of introduction."

Julia nodded, her mind already on the possibilities, the adventure and more importantly the chance to practice both sides of her medical knowledge. What excited her even more was the thought of being able to pass that knowledge on to others. Her time teaching Emily Grace had shown her that she enjoyed teaching as much as she did practicing. Then she suddenly caught sight of the ring on her finger and everything stopped. She rose to her feet suddenly conflicted and torn.

"I shall tell them they may contact you directly, that will give you time to think of your answer." He said rising too, the gentle understanding back in his eyes. Julia nodded, a deep frown on her face. Darcy reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I would appreciate you taking your hands off my wife Garland!"

Both Julia and Darcy swung towards the door as Murdoch stepped into the room, one look at his face and Julia's chin shot up.

"Don't be ridiculous William," she snapped, and turning to Darcy took his hand in hers briefly, "thank you Darcy, you have given me much to think on."

Darcy nodded and doffing his hat to Murdoch stepped around him and out of the room. Julia turned back to her husband, eyes narrowed and shoulders braced for battle.

Murdoch thought his head would explode, she was so infuriatingly gloriously beautiful, that even angry, jealous, worried and hurting he could not resist her.

"Think carefully about the next words are out of your mouth William, you and I are already on very rocky ground," she warned placing her hands on her hips.

Murdoch gave in, kicking the door closed behind him, he grabbed her around the waist and yanked her against him, his other hand slipped around her neck holding her captive while he plundered her mouth.

She melted against him almost instantly, and that eased the hurt inside him. Whatever their problems, she was as much a prisoner to her feelings as he was.

When he finally broke the kiss they were both breathing heavily. William eyed her desk but reason prevailed and he gently eased her back, he could not help letting his hand slide over the swell of her breast as he did and she rewarded him with a chocked gasp.

"I'm sorry Julia," he said softly looking into her eyes, "I think you are the most amazingly warm hearted person I have ever met. You don't just treat your patients my love, you heal them," his hand tightened on her waist and he gave her a little shake, "you feel for them, sometimes too much. I knew that if you did what must be done and destroyed that research, every child that came to you suffering from a blood disorder would hurt you even more."

Julia dropped her head on his shoulder, she could not stay angry with him like this. Once again his infuriating reason had won her over.

"Your logic is infuriating," she sighed. William hugged her close, "but perhaps just a little bit winsome?" he replied.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"They found some strange components on a workbench over there sir," Crabtree said pointing to the scarred and battered table.

Murdoch rose from beside the body and stepped over it to the table. There was very little blood, which was surprising considering the football size hole the victim had going through his chest.

George went back to watching the body, or Doctor Grace, Murdoch was pretty sure it was Emily Grace, but being able to see the floor and carpet through a body did have its own fascination.

"Where's the blood…and bits," George asked leaning closer, Emily bit back a smile and concentrated on examining the body.

"Bits?" she asked, knowing full well what he meant, teasing him was just irresistible.

"His insides, there's a dirty great hole where inside bits should be," he said his hands flaying about. Emily wanted to reach out and ruffle his hair.

"I can not be sure, but it looks as though something burnt a hole through him cauterizing the wound as it went." She said, then rose "I will have to examine the body more closely to be sure though. May I take him now Detective?" She looked over at Murdoch who nodded absently not looking up from sorting through the wires, diodes and tools on the table.

George gave Emily a saucy wink and she blushed just a little as she moved past him with a swish of her skirts.

Murdoch shook his head, every instinct he had was telling him this was important, something about the workbench was ringing loud alarm bells inside his head.

"What do you think he was building here Sir?" George asked, moving over to Murdoch.

"I have no idea George," Murdoch replied, he did not like the feeling that he was missing something important.

"Anything here that would have put that hole in the victim?" George persisted, while George's constant questions could drive even a saint to cursing, Murdoch had found that they helped him focus and often gave him an insight he might otherwise have missed, as it did now.

"No," he murmured drawing the word out, but he moved away from the table and over to where the body had been. He turned in a slow circle studying every foot of the room with an intense concentration.

George followed his gaze, trying to see what he must be seeing, to understand how his phenomenal brain worked and processed. He'd already learnt so much from this man, and yet he knew that it was a drop in the ocean compared to what he would still learn from him.

"Ah!" Murdoch pointed up, "take a look at that George," he said. George moved up beside him and looked up into the corner of the room, there was a deep wardrobe against the wall that cast the upper portion of the wall and the corner into darkness, but a dark burnt streak marred the white ceiling before the dark shadows swallowed it.

"You think whatever went through him is up there on top of that wardrobe," George asked.

Murdoch nodded absently already dragging a chair over to it, "tell Higgins to fetch a ladder," he ordered.

George did as bid. Higgins looked up at Murdoch standing on the chair and frowned, "What for, he's already up there?" he huffed.

George gave him a cool look, "he wants the ladder Henry, stop arguing and go fetch it."

"And get Doctor Grace back," Murdoch called down, "I think we have found the murder weapon," he lifted a round metallic disk, as he moved it something wet and slippery, slithered out and plopped down onto the ground.

George blinked at it a moment, "and the missing bits," he muttered.

* * *

Murdoch turned the metal disk around and around, there was something about it. It was spherical, with sharp jagged edges, the markings on it showed that something fast and incredibly powerful had driven it through the victim. He lifted it to his nose and sniffed. His worktable in his office was covered with everything from Albert Langton's rooms, they had identified the victim, or at least the name he'd rented the room by.

The smell triggered a memory and he rushed to the cabinet with his chemical collection. Scratching through it, found what he needed and brought it and a test-tube back to the table. A few moments later he stormed into Brackenreid's office closing the door behind him.

"He was killed by an explosive," he said, Brackenreid looked up a frown on his face, "some kind of controlled personalized bomb, the chemical is Nitroglycerin based, but there are other ingredients that I don't recognize."

"So he was playing with a bomb and it killed him?" Brackenreid asked.

Murdoch shook his head, "I don't think so. The force came from outside his arms range, somewhere below him. I think he was murdered deliberately. Someone else was with him in that workshop and they built something," he took a deep breath, "something that can control the exact blast to within the confines of a foot size metal sphere."

Brackenreid poured himself a shot and shook his head, "find out who and what Murdoch, if you are right there is a murderer out there with the makings of a clever bomb."

Murdoch nodded left with George following him.

"No one heard anything sir," George stated, tired dusty and a little rumpled, Murdoch stood once again at the crime scene, looking around, his hat snapping against his leg the only indication that he shared the frustration, "the building is too close to that steel mill it seems to have covered any noise the killer might have made."

Murdoch turned and frowned at him, "impossible George, the explosion would have shaken the entire building, even with the noise from the mill there is no way that would have gone unnoticed," he snapped.

George shook his head, "there is a loud bang three times a day, when they drop the oar into the whatever," he waved his hand, "happened while we were there questioning the neighbors earlier, Higgins dove for the ground and I must say I was close behind him," he said, "it was loud enough that my ears are still ringing."

Murdoch's eyes narrowed, "go to the Mill, find out if they drop the oar at the same time every day," he said, "the killer must know exactly when the bang occurs for him to be able to time his explosion so perfectly."

George nodded and left, a very dusty and harried Higgins at his heel. When they returned an hour later it was with another dead end. The bang was on a strict daily schedule, anyone living in the vicinity would know it.

Murdoch spent that time questioning people in the neighboring buildings, trying to find any clues, any connections with the dead man. Not even the man's landlady knew anything about him. It was as if the man did not exist.

He was back in the office going over the evidence from the crime scene, a sense of impending doom creeping over him.

"I feel it my wifely duty to tell you that I always find your intense concentration incredibly arousing," Julia's voice lilted from the doorway. Murdoch's heart jumped along with every other part of his anatomy. He moved over to her, took her hand in his and gently yanked her into the room firmly closing the door behind her.

She was in his arms moments later, and he kissed her with the same intense thoroughness as he did everything, including loving his wife.

Julia melted against him, completely unable to resist him. When her back hit the door, Murdoch pulled back, touching his forehead to hers as they panted for breath.

"It is indeed," he murmured, "and I hope to soon enjoy another of your wifely duties," he said as he stepped back, a dark promise in his eyes. Julia gave him a bright smile,

"Of course, you can enjoy my beef stroganoff." She blandly informed him and Murdoch paled and stepped back even further.

"Mrs Kitching is off again?" his voice came out a little high pitched, the last meal Julia had cooked a terrifying memory of rubber chicken, that tasted like horse hooves and he still shuddered with nausea at the memory of slimy goo that was supposed to have been rice.

"I sent her home, the poor dear is not as young as she was, one of her daughters has come down with a cold and between caring for her own home, us and her daughter's six unruly children, she quite done in," she said as she followed him further into the room with a cool smile that told him he was not fooling her in the slightest.

"But I won't be cooking for you tonight," she said, and he tried not to look too happy about the small reprieve.

"You were called away so fast from my office I did not have the time to remind you that I'm leaving for Buffalo in the morning," she edged closer to him, sliding her hand over his chest, her lips just inches from his.

Murdoch's brain became a single track of thought, Julia, Julia on the desk, Julia's mouth under his and naked Julia.

It took a loud banging on the door, followed by George not so subtly looking at the floor with his hand covering his face, to snap him back into the here and now.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, whatever I am interrupting, not that I can see anything, or have seen anything," George called.

Julia snorted out a laugh and stepped back, Murdoch shook his head ever so slightly and dropped his hands from her waist.

"What is it George," he said and George peeked up and straightened.

"Doctor Grace has completed the autopsy," he said, "she's waiting for you at the morgue."

"Thank you," Murdoch sighed then grabbed Julia for another quick kiss before reluctantly stepping away from her.

"Duty calls," he muttered, not happy about the fact that he would not be able to spend the night making up for the night before.

"For us both," Julia sighed and Murdoch frowned at that, "it's only for one week William, don't pout so," Julia said then handed him his hat and straitened his tie. It was such a wifely thing to do that he was overcome with the need to wrap her in his arms and hold onto her with all his might.

Instead Murdoch took her hand and slipped it into the crook of his arm, then walked with her out of the precinct. He loved this too, loved the feel of her at his side, loved the cool brush of her skirts against his leg as she walked, the weight of her small hand on his arm, the smell of her, clean and crisp, jasmine and woman. Loved watching her hair gleaming with a light all of its own, tamed and pinned a crowing glory for a face that, even after so many years of looking at it, still made his heart stop.

"I think you should spend the night at your town house?" he said as they reached the street, Julia sighed but nodded.

"The train leaves dreadfully early, and I imagine you will not be spending much time away from work until this killer has been apprehended," She stated, "I heard the man was eviscerated?" It was sometimes very hard to remember that she was no longer in the thick of his investigations, the only part of her job at the morgue she missed.

"Yes, a very unusual circumstances, which I will tell you when you return," he replied, "I won't wake you when I come in," he sighed as he handed her into a carriage.

"You had better wake me William Murdoch, if only to say goodbye," she snapped, Murdoch gave her a smile, then stepped back and closed the door.

He watched the carriage disappear, and felt a heavy weight of sorrow settle on him like a wet wool blanket. He would not be waking her up that night, she needed her rest, the conferences she went to cost her time away from work, and it usually meant that she would have to work twice as hard and long when she came back. It worried him, she already looked pale and a little sad.

As she resisted the urge to turn and watch him out the back window, Julia realized that Murdoch's phenomenal brain was so focused on the case, he'd forgotten all about Darcy's visit. Which was just as well, she'd already decided not to accept. The thought of being without him for such a long time was impossible, but a very large part of her was disappointed.

* * *

Murdoch spent a futile two days trying to find some clue as to who Langton was, where he came from, anyone that knew him or had spoken to him, but he was met with a complete blank. He spent hours picking up and examining each item they had found at the man's rooms trying to figure out what he'd created, what he'd intended to used it for.

Dr. Grace confirmed that the metal disk had passed through his body, at such a speed it had caused a heated friction that cauterized as it went. The man had died literally in seconds.

They searched the flat, looking for any personal items and found nothing.

Langton hadn't even had clothing there, nothing in the closets, not even food in the small kitchen. Murdoch questioned the neighbors again, on both sides and above and below him. No one had spoken to the man, or seen more than a glimpse of him.

The building was filled with mostly immigrant workers, those who did not want to be noticed, and spent every waking moment working to eke out a living so they could send money to the folks back home.

Two days of nothing.

The nights for Murdoch were the worst, despite him staying until late and leaving in the early mornings, he hated being in their home alone. The house seemed hollow and devoid of life, as if it too pined for her. After he found himself standing at her closet with his face buried in her dresses breathing in her scent, he started sleeping on the couch in the Inspectors office.

On the third day of nothing, he walked into Brackenreid's office with a frustrated frown on his face and a feeling of impending doom heavy in his stomach.

"Sit down Murdoch, I have some news," Brackenreid said as he rose from his chair. Murdoch sat.

"On the case sir?" he asked, hope in his voice.

Brackeneid shook his head, "no, it's Serge Samuels," he said rising from behind his desk. Murdoch sat forward in his chair, "he should be dead by now, it's been nearly six months," he said.

"He's not, they had to delay the hanging when the gallows collapsed under them," he muttered, "made a bloody mess of the poor bugger they were trying to hang, the whole thing fell on him and crushed his scull," he shrugged and settled on the corner of the desk beside Murdoch.

"Serge? " Murdoch asked confused,

Brackenreid rolled his eyes and leant closer to him "Not 'im, some other bugger, pay attention! If it had been Samuel's we would not be having this conversation," he snarled.

"I'm sorry sir," Murdoch said, then "the cave in caused a lot of structural damage in the town," Murdoch murmured, his mind racing.

"Aye, and we'll be having things fall apart for a long time to come, but be that as it may, Samuel's barrister managed to find a sympathetic Judge, and his execution has been stayed until further notice," Brackenreid said.

"Further notice of what? The man is a murderer, that's not going to change," Murdoch snapped, fear sizzling up his spine, the man had kidnapped Julia and Murdoch felt even now that catching him had been too easy, it had almost been as if he'd wanted to be caught.

"I have no bloody idea, but I do know that the Judges nephew suffers with diabetes, so I imagine it will be until they can find a way to get Samuels out."

Murdoch rose too restless to stay seated, "or break him out of jail?" he paced the length of the room, "with a bomb perhaps?" the zinging turned into alarms.

"The kind of bomb that makes holes in people," Brackenreid said moving to grab his coat, "lets get over to the jail and make sure that does not happen," he hefted his walking stick and lead the way out.

"Sirs, the Men's prison just called, there's been an escape," George called to them as they strode across the room.

Murdoch's entire body went on full alert, "who?" he snarled.

George winced, "Serge Samuels," he said softly.


	5. Chapter 4

They made it to the prison in record time, armed to the teeth. The head warden awaited them at the first of the massive iron gates.

The prison was made of stone and concrete, barred windows towards the outside. It was a deceptive building because it looked like a school, from the outside long and narrow with a central section and outer wings, but once inside, the school similarity ended.

There were smaller buildings behind it that housed the offices and the guard's quarters, and a railway yard where the prisoners worked. All separated with narrow walkways that were constantly patrolled by guards with dogs.

The prison's harsh history gave it a dank and dismal feel. The sense of hopelessness and slithering evil pervaded ever corner of it. Many atrocities had been committed behind these walls, and no one really knew how many bodies were rotting under the hard packed earth.

"Is Samuels the only one who escaped?" Brackenreid asked, as they entered the building.

The warden nodded, leading the way "it's the strangest thing Inspector, you will have to see it to believe it," he said looking pale, his eyes almost wild.

The two policemen exchange glances but followed the warden, "you won't be needing the guns," he informed them.

The inspector still held his shotgun up, and Murdoch didn't lower his revolver either, "was anyone hurt?" Murdoch asked studying the cells they walked past. Wardens armed with batons stood at intervals along the way.

The warden shook his head as they waited at yet another iron gate for a guard with a massive ring of keys to unlock the door. "

"No one was harmed, in fact as you will see, no one even knew he was gone until half an hour ago," he stated ushering them through.

By Murdoch's estimation they were now on the second floor of the building somewhere towards the back. Since the prison was on the very outskirts of the town far away from the population, there would be only wilderness behind this section of outer wall. A perfect place to escape from without drawing attention.

They'd reached the cell, and both Brackenreid and Murdoch stared through the bars in slack jawed shock. There was an iron cot, a bucket and a giant black hole in the ground.

Murdoch's mind clicked into overdrive, it flitted from the hole in the ground, the burnt edges of it, the outer wall, and he looked up at the ceiling, a large black metal sphere was imbedded in stone and concrete.

"Bloody hell?" The inspector gaped at Murdoch, seemingly temporarily at a loss for any other words.

"Were there any loud explosions?" Murdoch asked.

"Of course, the rail yard and workshop is just behind that wall, there is always a lot of noise, but we did get a few very loud explosions around lunch time," he stated, letting them into the cell, "we checked of course, but everything seemed normal, and the guard came back with nothing to report,"

Murdoch looked down into the hole, he could see the room below was the prison shower room, and even from up here he could see the massive hole in the east outer wall.

"I wonder how your guard missed that." He murmured.

As Murdoch had suspected, the guard turned out to be missing too. With over three hundred inmates and a hundred and fifty guards, knowing each guard by sight was impossible. That the guard was part of the escape was confirmed when they found a uniform half buried a little way north of the prison.

The Inspector took over the search and called in every constable available, along with the prison guards and dogs. What followed was two days of the biggest manhunt the city had known in years.

The surrounding wilderness, farms, country homes, and neighbouring towns were searched. Doors where knocked on, people were questioned, and some of the more remote homes were even searched.

On the third day Chief Inspector Giles called a stop to it, Brackenreid marched into his office and the windows rattled with his bellows.

"It stops when I say it stops!" He roared, and Giles stood as impassable as ever, not by the slightest expression on his face did he show any emotion.

"Wrong, it stops when I say," he stated flatly, "I understand your frustration, however we can no longer justify the cost of a pointless search. Samuels and his accomplice are long gone," he held up his hand stopping Brackenreid's tirade, "this has now become a matter for police work, has Murdoch discovered anything questioning the guards, inmates and warden?"

Brackenreid snapped his jaw shut and shook his head, "not a lot, they could not even give us a decent description of the man, as far as we can make out he just walked in a few weeks ago and started working different shifts. He was never in one section for very long, and he did not interact with any of them, he's a ghost."

Giles winced at the term but said nothing, turning back to the window he gazed out onto the streets of his city.

"When is Doctor Ogden due back?" He asked getting to the very heart of Brackenreid's biggest concern and Murdoch's greatest fear.

"Tomorrow," he replied, "Murdoch is holding together at the moment, but I have no idea how he's going to cope when she's here."

Giles nodded, and surprisingly did not make a snarky comment about duty and the job. Brackenreid frowned at him. When he turned to face him, there was a slight softening on his stone face.

"Give him anything he needs to ensure her safety," he said, that got an even bigger shocked expression from the inspector, Giles narrowed his eyes at it, "a man must be allowed to protect his family." Was all he said.

"Detective Murdoch,"

Murdoch turned and took the magnifying glasses off his eyes, Darcy Garland stood at the door of his office turning his hat in his hand.

"Doctor Garland, what can I do for you?" he asked putting down the guard's uniform he'd been inspecting, but still not offering his hand. He did not like the man, knew it was unfair of him and had no grounding in anything other than the fact that Julia had very nearly married him, which was of course hardly his fault, but try as me might Murdoch could not stop wanting to throw a punch whenever he saw him.

"May I come in?" it was said through slightly clenched teeth, and Murdoch winced, his manners had deteriorated very badly. Quickly he stepped forward and pulled the door wider open, "of course, please sit down," he indicated a chair.

Darcy shook his head at the chair but stepped further into the office, "I'll make this quick, I realize you must be very busy with an escaped murderer on the loose," he waved towards the stuff on the table.

"It's about Julia. The Organization has asked me to try and persuade you to change her mind about their offer," he said and there was a deep fury in his eyes, "I just don't understand how you can condone her changing her practicing medicine to that wishy washy psycho rubbish, and yet hold her back from the most fantastic opportunity in her career." He snapped, hands clenched into fists around the brim of his hat.

Murdoch blinked at him a moment, "I'm sorry?" his brain was going over every conversation he'd had with Julia and suddenly he remembered Darcy's visit to her office.

"India man! I know a year is a long time apart but you can go with her," he exclaimed, Murdoch's brain clicked it all over and his heart did a little leap of joy. She'd obviously turned them down and it did not take a clever brain to know it was for him.

"My wife's decisions are a private matter Doctor Garland and I will not discuss them with anyone, if you have concerns you may speak to Julia about them," he said showing the man the way out.

Garland shook his head but moved to the door, "frankly Murdoch, with the man who succeeded in kidnapping Julia once already, on the loose, you might consider how much safer she would be half a world away." He said as a parting shot, and Murdoch resisted the urge to drag him outside and beat his logic back down his throat, because much as he loathed the idea, Darcy did have a very good point.

Julia's train was exactly on time, Murdoch however was not. He ran down the platform bobbing up and down, looking for Julia amongst a sea of people.

When he caught a glimpse of a slender waist and a very seductive sway of hips he stopped dead. The last time he'd enjoyed watching her pace, he'd been standing on a station just like this one, and it had been a purely male reaction to a slender figure. This time that slender figure was his wife and he savoured the heat that brought. The passion was mixed with a tenderness and joy when she turned, spied him, dropped her bag and rushed into his arms.

"I missed you," she whispered into his ear, Murdoch buried his face in her hair and held her tight, once again unable to say all the words that he wanted to, chocked by his emotions.

"Take me home Husband," she murmured with a smile that promised him everything. He let her go, snatched up her bag and with an arm around her waist propelled her towards the carriage so fast Julia gasped out a laugh.

When Julia came out of the bathroom, William was sitting naked in the centre of the bed, his legs slightly bent at the knees, his erection curving up towards his hard abs. She stood for a moment admiring the picture he made and her body tingled, hot and feverish.

"Come here," he ordered on a husky whisper, compelled to obey by a need as strong as his, she lifted her nightgown and slid one knee onto the bed.

William reached out a hand to her, such an ordinary thing for him to do, the way he would help her from a carriage or over uneven ground, and yet this time she felt heat sizzle down her body.

That big hand, strong and sure, unhesitant and unwavering, would be there forever, to help, to hold, to pleasure, always there, like the man it was attached to wholly and completely hers.

She stood back, sliding off her nightgown, threw it aside and with a wicked grin she grabbed his hand and scrambled onto the bed.

William returned her grin as he slid his hands around her waist and lifted her over him, "spread your legs Julia," he murmured nuzzling her neck, "wrap them around me,".

She didn't hesitate, letting him lift her she slid her legs around him, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She hung there for a moment, open and exquisitely helpless. William took her mouth in a long hot kiss, lifting her a little more he settled himself at her opening.

Julia groaned, he was almost too much for her at this angle and she trembled and hesitated, but hunger burned though her and her body wriggling almost on its own accord.

She wanted more, needed it, the ache inside her becoming unbearable. She tore her lips off his and threw her head back, pushing down on him, forcing him deeper into her body.

"Slowly," he groaned, his hands at her waist like vices, trying to hold her up. Julia was beyond caring, the feel of him stretching her, filling her, pushing up against that spot inside her was moving her perilously close to the edge or reason, she drove herself down further in one hard push and gasped.

Murdoch's eyes closed, he clawed at control, fought for it, and held onto the thread of it with his teeth. She was hot wet velvet, tight as a fist around him, he could feel her inner muscles rippling, grasping, wanting. Her long legs, clasped around him so strongly, he knew he'd feel it later, and he knew the memory of this moment would probably make him hard all over again.

"Move blast you!" Julia snarled, trying to get some leverage and finding none on the soft bed. It worked counter to her desperate struggles, moving down when she did. Murdoch shook his head and tightened his hold on her waist.

"Be still," he ordered, giving her a little shake to bring her back into focus.

Julia's head snapped up and she glared at him, her face flushed her eyes blazing. Murdoch's cock twitched inside her, aching even more at the sight she made. She was his goddess, in everything she did and he did not care how blasphemous that was.

"You need to learn patience," he growled, a sheen of sweat breaking out all over his body, every muscle was bunched and tense, ready, begging, for him to let go, to throw her down and hammer himself inside her until neither of them could walk again.

A sharp pain at his ear brought him back to himself and the wild woman in his arms, Julia's sharp little teeth snapped at his ear, a warning that the next bite she gave him would probably draw blood.

It drove him even further from control, one hand slid up her back to her neck and the other between them. He bowed her back, running his hand from her neck to where they joined while she watched him with unfocused eyes filled with secrets and needs, her small pert breasts offered up begging him to taste.

He flexed under her, pulling her downwards as he did and it drove him so deep inside her she cried out, her nails furrowing his back, then he stopped again, holding her there for an infinite second, while she writhed and mewled incoherent demands.

Julia thought she would explode right out of her skin, the tight coiled ache inside her growing bigger and bigger, his hands brushed up between them and cupped her breast, and she watched him, his eyes on hers burning with a dark need that she understood, it echoed in her.

She slid her hands over his shoulder, up his neck and pulled his head towards her, arching her breasts up to him a silent demand that he could not ignore.

This time he gave in and nibbled and licked, but still refused to give her the teeth she wanted. Julia pulled at his hair, tried to show him what she so desperately needed, but William continued his torture, his hands gentling her, brushing up and down her back and sides, feather-light brushes across her buttocks.

It sent shock waves of an almost painful pleasure through her, leaving her trembling body held teetering on the edge.

"William!" it came out a plea, a demand and an oath. It galvanized him into action and he pulled her to him and took her mouth in a kiss that mimicked the undulations of his lower body, tiny, slow, shallow thrust, that kept both of them teetering on the very razors edge, building an already overwhelming tension into the impossible.

Nearly delirious, Julia broke the kiss, took his face in her hands, looked deep into his determined eyes.

"Husband," she whispered.

She saw it snap, his phenomenal control, that deeply intense will came apart in the blink of an eye, and she gloried in it, even as he clutched her to him, drove her back onto the bed and took them both over the pinnacle, in harsh, bone jarring thrusts.

She screamed his name, holding onto his shuddering body as she drowned in a sea of thick dark pleasure.

For a long time after, while the shudders were still wracking her body, they lay there completely spent, sticky, sweaty and aching in places, but so wrapped up and around each other that it was hard to know where one started and the other ended.

Murdoch's arms tightened around her, his heart hammering fast in his chest, right under her ear.

"You are rather impressively imaginative in this department William," Julia managed to groan out, William smiled into her hair.

"I have a book," he whispered, Julia's head snapped up and she gaped at him.

"Pornography?" she asked her eyes as big a saucers, with just a hint of interest in their depths. William could not resist, tired and sated as he was, she still managed to stir him in every way. He grabbed a handful of her hair and gently pulled her head back for a deep kiss.

Julia pulled back eventually, her hand gently brushing his face, "the spirit is willing, but the body needs a little time," she sighed on a grimace. Murdoch chuckled and nodded settling her more closely into his shoulder.

"It's actually a historical book," he said when he'd gotten both of them comfortable, Julia snorted in disbelief.

"It is, it's called the Kama Sutra, and it originated in India, as far as they can make out it was composed about 400 BC," he continued. Julia stiffened beside him.

"It's a complete guide to a loving and harmonic married and family life, of which sex is most important," he said his hand brushing up and down her spine calmingly, "as important even as honesty, something I have recently been taught very severely."

Julia sat up brushing the hand away that tried to pull her back down, she glared at him, "how did you find out?" she demanded.

Murdoch was trying with all his might not to gape at her breasts, and even harder not to reach out and grab a handful. Noticing his distraction Julia pulled the sheet up and covered herself.

"Darcy thinks I've forbidden you from going," he sighed regretfully, he wondered if they ever would have the time to really just be together, without jobs and duty and danger forever coming between them.

Julia muttered a rather colourful curse and Murdoch had to bite back a smile, if she saw it she'd probably skin him alive right now.

"Darcy should mind his own business and stop interfering with mine, I have made my decision and that is final," she snapped, sliding off the bed in agitation. Murdoch pulled himself up and settled more comfortably against the pillows, watching her slip on her discarded night gown,

"Come here," he ordered, Julia swung on him both eyebrows raised and a defiant tilt to her chin. He could see she wanted to tell him to go to the devil just for daring to order her about, but was not sure his command warranted it just yet. He waited.

Finally she sighed and climbed up onto the bed to face him, "William, there is nothing to discuss. I am not taking off to India for a year, no matter how exciting the prospect," she said firmly.

Murdoch took her hand and studied it while searching for the words. It was such a small, delicate hand, but the strength and skill in it left him breathless with pride and admiration.

"You want to go Julia, it's the opportunity of a lifetime and an incredible honour. I don't want to be the reason for holding you back, not ever," he said pulling her closer, "and frankly I have always wanted to see India."

Her fingers tightened in his and she blinked at him with a heart breaking kind of hope in her eyes, "you would come with me?" she asked her voice going up in that little squeak of excitement.

Murdoch shook his head and her face fell in disappointment, "I would join you there. I can't leave right now but I will come as soon as I can," he urged, hating Serge and even his job for putting that look on her face.

Julia shook her head, "then I will wait too, if they want me this badly they will want me just as much in a few months time," she said firmly trying to take her hand out of his, but he tightened his hold.

"You know that is not true, Julia, they will find someone else and there will be no place for you on that team. No I am afraid in this instant you can not have your cake and eat it too," he smiled at her.

Julia narrowed her eyes at him and snarled, "my blasted cake, I'll eat it if I want to," she snapped.

"And you shall, in India," he said firmly, then when she stubbornly shook her head, "I will join you, it should only be a few months for me to tie things up here and I come to you," he cajoled. A part of him was standing back and shaking its head at this insanity. Months without her, he'd barely managed a week and now he was sending her away for months?

This time she yanked her hand out of his grasp, and bounced off the bed. Her tiny bottom flouncing in anger as she stomped across to the bathroom, then she changed her mind and stomped back.

By some completely twisted chemistry in Murdoch's blood, angry and enraged Julia aroused him faster than was mortally wise. Mortally, because if she ever realized the imaginings he had watching her twitch and storm, she might just castrate him.

"The only reason you want me gone is because Serge is loose," she snarled as she came closer, hands on her hips. Murdoch pulled his thoughts back from that tiny waist to what she was saying with a snap. His head shot up and his eyes narrowed.

"Oh, don't like it when the tables are turned, do you?" she snapped, jumping back when he lunged to grab her, "no getting fresh with me William Murdoch, I will not be distracted," she kept just out of his reach, as he tried to keep the covers over himself and catch her.

In a lightning Julia change of mood she went from enraged to laughing in a blink, and there was such a naughty look on her face that the visions in his head were becoming alarmingly wicked.

"I did not try and hide it from you Julia," he stated, as he tossed back the covers and dove off the bed after her.

She gave out a squeal of fright, lifted her gown and dashed into the bathroom, a stark naked Murdoch right at her heels.

It was many hours and a lot of hot water before they both slid into bed, pruned and exhausted.

"I had no idea you could do that in the tub," she snickered and William managed a weak chuckle.

"You are going to India?" he made it a question but they both knew it was a demand. She sighed and nodded snuggling under his chin.

"Just catch Serge fast William, because I will miss you so terribly."


	6. Chapter 5

_Dearest William,_

_I know it has only been a week since I left, but I miss you unbearably. I feel I have to write to you at least once a day. I have also decided to keep a journal, the nights will be long and empty without you, a journal is of course no substitute but it will keep me busy._

_I am traveling on a very fine Ship, had you been here you would of course have by now discovered how it works and more than likely been in deep discussions with both the engineer and the captain. I can only tell you that it is very impressive._

_My fellow team members were all hand picked by Doctor Quentin and he has collected a very interesting and diverse group of doctors and nurses and they are all aboard. He thought the enforced idleness on the ship would give us time to get to know each other._

_Matron Betsy Dresden was trained as a nurse by Florence Nightingale herself, which I found fascinating, and she has a great many stories to tell. She has become our away from home Mother, taking over the younger ladies chaperoning and even my education in lady deportation has not escaped her keen eye, since I am so newly married I must be in need of a mother's counsel. The first of which was her rather thinly veiled disapproval of my leaving you to go traipsing of to a heathen country. She means well and while a little annoying at times I find her care and company welcome more often than not._

_There is an obstetrician, Doctor Lorenzo, a robust and very round little Italian man who speaks appalling English, eats everything and constantly, and has the sweetest disposition. He's traveling with his wife, who will depart to stay with her family when we reach Athens, she's Greek and speaks better English than he does. _

_Our dentist Doctor Edmund Blythe is a very unassuming man with a mouth of perfect teeth. Which is a good reference to his work, he has boxes and boxes of toothbrushes and silk floss that he's handed out to everyone on the ship. He has an intern working for his doctorate, but I am inclined to think they are more than just teacher and pupil._

_Doctor Quentin himself is a very reclusive man, I have seen very little of him since we set foot on the ship together. He too has interns traveling with him, both very young gentlemen and both like him very English. He seldom joins us for the excellent on board entertainment, or even for the meals, but I did manage to catch him yesterday taking a turn around the ship. He seems a terribly cold man, not easily approached. I barely exchanged two words with him before he excused himself and went back to hiding in his quarters. _

_I have managed to find an Indian professor traveling on board, he's not in first class, but we have worked out a schedule where I can meet him in the second class dinning area for lessons. He is teaching me some of the official local languages, (apparently there are quite a few), along with an intense course in Indian culture and beliefs, something I thought would have been seen to by the International Red Cross Organization that is sending us to India. How do they hope for us to cope in that country when we know nothing about it? The very subject I tried to discuss with Quentin, perhaps his lack in that department is the reason he was so short._

_I am still not sure in what capacity I will be working once we reach Bombay, but I suspect that since there are no other surgeons on the team, that is to be my branch. I imagine the Red Cross have as much understanding for the importance of psychiatry as Darcy and his peers do. Which is none at all, the world is changing but I fear where the medical profession should be leading the field in finding the new and the better, they are instead stuck in a mire of arrogance and closed minded thinking._

_I pray that by the time this letter reaches you, Serge is back behind bars and you are on your way to me._

_I miss you William, please hurry._

_Your loving wife,_

* * *

Julia signed off with a flourish and lifting the paper waved it a to dry the ink, the door to the sitting room opened and Betsy stepped in a frown on her face.

"Odious man!" she snarled as she came and settled on the small sitting area near the desk Julia sat at.

"I take it you ran into the prince again?" Julia asked folding her letter up and slipping it into an envelope, she used the candle to melt the sealing wax and the ships seal to close the envelope off.

"I hope you have written to your husband and told him of the indecent way that man has harassed you," she said with a sniff, "if my Walter were still alive he would have taught that heathen upstart a lesson." She nodded as she spoke.

Julia finished addressing the envelope and fanned it to dry the ink, "Walter?" she asked, subtly changing the subject.

"My late husband," Betsy said a far away smile on her face, Julia turned her chair to face the other woman.

"I did not know you have been married," she said it with a new understanding. Betsy Dresden was a diminutive dragon, she had an opinion about everything, ruled the nurses with an iron hand and had a strict morality that she held herself to with unwavering control. In a small way she reminded Julia of Murdoch, though she was the first to admit Murdoch was more able to adjust to the world around him and more forgiving of humanities individuality.

"Walter departed ten years ago," Betsy sighed, and there was still a world of sadness and longing in that one small sound. Julia reached out a hand and gently grasped Betsy's, offering her sympathy and for once the iron dragon melted a little and squeezed her hand in return before pulling away, "he would never have allowed me to go off alone to a foreign country," she stated firmly. Julia sighed and turned back to the desk taking another sheet of paper.

"I refuse to argue with you about this any more Matron, what is done is done, I am here and I intend to make the best of it," she stated firmly turning a steely eye to her friend, Betsy sighed and pulled the silk service rope.

"Well I imagine when he hears about that horrid prince he will order you home immediately," she said not giving an inch. Julia bent her head to the paper she was writing on and said nothing, but the Matron was not a fool and after giving the order for tea to the soft footed servant she once more turned her attention to Julia.

"You have not told him have you?" she demanded.

Julia dipped her ink again and gave her a sideways look, part guilt and part defiance, "No, not that it is any of your business," she snapped.

"Be that as it may Doctor Ogden, but when you can not sleep in your own very spacious room and have to share a much smaller one with me for protection, I feel it has become my business," she said tartly.

Julia winced, the night before one of the Princes guards had broken into her room, only the fact that she was still awake reading and had called for help had stopped him in his tracks. The servant that came at her call had taken one look at the sack and rope in the intruder's hands and raised a wailing alarm that brought half the ship running.

The man in custody refused to talk and the Prince denied knowing anything of the man's intentions. When the Captain summoned her to his quarters not ten minutes later she'd been sure they were about to send her off the ship, after all it was her word against that of royalty.

The Captain however was a crusty old sailor who questioned her in a no nonsense way and then ordered her to share lodgings with one of the other women until he deemed it safe. He'd also ordered a guard to follow her around constantly, Julia had not argued.

"I thank you for your concern…" she started then stopped, getting into a fight with her only friend was pointless. Betsy was a good person and she deserved better than to be brushed off rudely, "I'm sorry Betsy," she said on a sigh and ripping up the letter she was writing to her father, rose and joined Betsy just as the servant brought in a huge tray ladened with tea and scones.

"I can't tell William," she finally said when the servant had left. Betsy frowned at her, the question in her eyes, for once it was not followed by disapproval.

"Are you afraid he will order you home?" She asked pouring the tea, Julia laughed without humor and shook her head.

"You still don't believe me when I tell you William is not like that, he'd not order me to do anything," she said, then pushed the sudden image of a very naked Murdoch ordering her to do all sorts of wickedly delightful things, out of her mind. If Betsy noticed the sudden blush, she did not mention it.

"My taking part in this trip was as much his wish as it was mine," she stated for perhaps the fifth time.

Betsy handed her the teacup balanced on its matching saucer, "yes, yes, equal partnership and all that rot. I have seen a lot of the world Julia, and trust me when I tell you men do not ever really consider us equal. No matter how besotted they are." She informed her firmly, then held up her hand to halt the flow of words spluttering out of Julia's mouth.

"I'm sorry, I see you will have to learn that for yourself," she said waving away Julia's indignant denial, "if your husband is such a miracle of modern wonders, why then can you not tell him that a Persian prince has decided that you belong in his harem?" She asked all innocence as she offered Julia the plate of scones.

Julia debated tossing the scones in her face for a full minute before she sniffed a miffed "No thank you," and took a sip of her tea. She was stalling for time, trying to find a way to explain something only those that knew Murdoch could understand. That her leaving would have pushed him further into his own head, that the longer they were apart the more it would affect them both, and that he could not be distracted when he was on the trail of a killer.

"He will worry," she finally sighed, and sat forward, putting her cup down, "I know it sounds trite but it is pointless, by the time he gets the letter Husam will already be off the ship and heading back to his own country far away from me."

Betsy sighed but for once let it be.

* * *

_Dear Julia, _

_I am well. The case that I am working on is difficult and made more frustrating by you not being here, without your keen insight and deep understanding of the human mind I am, in a sense, working blind._

_Serge is still at large and I start to fear that we might never catch him. The Inspector and Chief Inspector feel that he has long left the country and is even now somewhere in America. I pray he has not found another victim for his research yet. We have sent word to every town in both directions, north and south with a photograph. _

_Since beginning this letter we have received a call from the Northwest territories, they have found a body that could be our missing guard's. They are sending us a photograph just as soon as they can, the limited resources up there I imagine it will take quite a while. The Inspector is now convinced that Serge is in America, he is sure the body is a diversion to make us think Samuel's is hiding in the north and that he has by now doubled back and crossed the border._

_I am not convinced. I know Serge is still here, simply because his research is still here. I can not see him going off without it, and it is only a matter of time before he makes a mistake._

_The bomb components have proved to be an interesting combination of substances created by a man named Alfred Nobel, he calls it Gelignite. The component they used for the escape has been labeled Nobel's explosive 808. It is exactly as the names says a jelly/putty like substance that can be molded and is not as reactive as nitroglycerin, but with ten times the blast capacity. The 808 is packed around the inside and the outside of the sphere and placed against the wall, the outer blast propels the sphere through solid stone made soft by the inner blast contained within the sphere. It's quite ingeniously done._

_I'm sorry Julia, as you know new discoveries are my weakness, and I can get very taken over by them. It will not be long now, I am sure Serge will be anxious to get his research, the minute he does we will have him and I will be on the next ship to you._

_I am glad that there is someone there with whom you can converse, it eases my mind greatly, knowing you are not going to be too lonely._

_I miss you too Julia, until soon._

_Your Husband._

* * *

A hand clasped over his mouth, and the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against his head woke Murdoch from sleep.

"Do not move Detective, I have no wish to kill you, but I will if you force me to," Serge's voice whispered in his ear. Murdoch nodded slightly and braced himself when Serge released him and moved to the chair beside the bed, too far for Murdoch to reach the gun before Serge could shoot him.

"What do you want?" he snarled, his mind working frantically for a way out.

"You know what I want, and I might add you did not need to send Doctor Ogden across the globe, I would not have harmed her," he said with a laugh.

Murdoch snorted, "I do not trust the word of a murderer Samuels and I will not give you your research." He braced himself for the bullet and death all his thoughts on Julia and how glad he was that she was not here.

Serge's eyes narrowed, but the cold smile never left his face and the gun never wavered, "I am surprised you have not destroyed it, with your high moral code I felt sure you would have. Tell me, did you allow Doctor Ogden to read it?"

"No," he said his mind clicking from one scenario to the next, suddenly he realized that while Julia might be across the globe, she was far from safe.

"And did she obey?" Serge asked in a slight whisper.

"Yes," Murdoch muttered, in truth he knew she'd read it, or parts of it, before he came home that night. His wife was a stubborn woman and her curiosity would have gotten the better of her.

"Ah, a lie, and not a very good one, the unfortunate result of being an honest man. Lying takes practice," Serge laughed, then leaned closer, "I however do not have that handicap, it does make life so much simpler," he whispered companionably, Murdoch wanted desperately to get his hands around the mans throat.

"What good does it do you if she did or not? It is highly unlikely she would remember any of it," he said moving one leg slightly further to the other side of the bed, loosening the bedding.

Serge shook the gun at him as if it were a finger and tutted, "tisk tisk, Detective, now you play with me. You and I both know that Doctor Ogden has a phenomenal memory, she would probably be able to recite what she read word for word," the gun snapped up, steady and dangerous.

"Give me my work Murdoch and I will leave Canada, you can bring your wife back and live a long and happy life together," all humor was gone now, and Murdoch was faced with the stone cold killer that had murdered two young girls for their body parts.

"I always wondered why you picked such young, high profile victims?" Murdoch asked, slipping his leg a little further to the side.

"Strategically it would have made more sense if you chose from the lost and forgotten on the streets. If you were not going to use the parts for an actual transfer, would not they have served you better?" Murdoch asked and was rewarded by Serge relaxing back into his chair, though the gun still held steady.

"A question I think Doctor Ogden might have asked me had you not dragged her away that day at the prison," Serge said with just a hint of venom, Murdoch shrugged but said nothing.

"They were athletes, young and vibrant and filled with strength and health, their liver and kidneys would be clean and strong, pure, not drenched in sin and filth, overexposed to disease and age. The very purity of them would make keeping the organs fresh easier, and they would last longer," he leant forward again, deeply engrossed in his subject, there was an almost fanatical light in his eyes, and Murdoch realized that for Serge the quest for knowledge had become an unhealthy obsession that stripped him of all his humanity.

The bedding was loosened a little more as he moved his leg and gave it another little tug.

"We did not find the organs in your laboratory," he urged Serge further into his obsession,

"No of course not, we had already transplanted them," he laughed delighted at Murdoch's shocked expression.

"Oh yes, you see you are quite right, the tramps and vagrants living off the offal of humanity in and around the city are by far the best to simply disappear and not be missed. We did the transplants not even hours after we harvested the organs, do you want to know the details?"

Murdoch shook his head, the bile rising in his throat, "the bodies?" he hissed out through clenched teeth.

Serge shrugged, "the cave in took care of that little problem for me. That section of the sewer is completely blocked off," he said carelessly,

"Now enough distraction Detective, give me my research or I will shoot you and then wait for your grieving widow to return from India. I am sure she will be much more malleable to persuasion, and without you in her life perhaps I can persuade her to join me," he said it with a thoughtful expression, as if he were debating doing it anyway.

"No," Murdoch said and tossed the loosened blanket over Serge, rolling off the bed on the opposite side as the first wild shot hit the wall inches from his head.

The bed was close to the ground but left him enough space to scuttle under it and to the other side, while Serge fought out of the blanket, rising to his feet and shooting wildly in all directions, Murdoch grabbed his ankles and tugged.

Serge gave a shout as he fell back into the chair. Murdoch snarled, he'd wanted the man to fall to the floor, now the splinters from the next shot imbedded themselves in his cheek. Murdoch gave Serge's legs another vicious yank, then releasing him he slithered backwards far enough to give him the room he needed.

"It appears we will have to continue this on another day Detective," Serge snarled, as he let one last shot into the bed.

Murdoch knew he had very little time, he had to make his move now or Serge would disappear again and it could be weeks before he tried for the research again, weeks longer away from Julia. The thought of that alone gave him the strength and determination.

Drawing his legs under his body Murdoch braced his back against the bottom of the bed and pushed up, with every muscle in his body screaming, soaked in sweat he heaved himself and the bed up and flung it at Serge.


	7. Chapter 6

"This is a first even for me," Brackenreid chuckled as he stepped into Murdoch's bedroom, "normally we handcuff villains, we don't pin them under furniture."

Murdoch knelt on the floor beside Serge. Serge's gun in his hand aimed at the ground, "I apologize Sir, I appear to have left my handcuffs in my other pants." He said indicating his pajamas.

Brackenreid gaped at him a moment then nudged an equally astounded Henry, "you see that Higgins, I do believe Murdoch made a joke," he winked at Murdoch, "must be the joyful anticipation of his imminent trip to India."

Murdoch said nothing his attention back on a slowly awakening Serge, "do not try to move Mr. Samuels, you do not appear to have suffered any severe damage, but until the bed is lifted we will not know for sure." He told him.

Serge looked around him and snarled, trying to make a grab for Murdoch and the gun, Murdoch stayed where he was, letting Serge know he'd already anticipated his reaction and placed himself well out of reach.

"If you don't mind Inspector, I'll wait to see this man hang before I join my wife."

Loud pounding on the door brought Murdoch's head up out of a troubled sleep, since his bed was still in need of repair he'd taken to sleeping in the spare room. For some reason a sense of doom followed him from his dreams and he was shaken and sweating as he slipped his feet over the side of the bed and into his slippers. Forgoing putting on a dressing gown over his damp pajamas he stumbled down the stairs, muttering all the fine curses his wife had taught him. The continued pounding persisted until he flipped on the porch light and ripped open the door with a thunderous snarl.

The string of abuse he had stored up to spew forth died on his lips and an icy cold fear slithered up his spine, burrowed into his body and gouged thick cold hooks into his stomach and heart.

Sir Henry stood there, leaning heavily on his cane, his eyes bloodshot and tears streaking down his face. Darcy beside him looking equally pale.

"No!" Murdoch said flatly, all the light bleeding from around him, he started to close the door, unable to face what he knew was coming. Sir Henry put his hand out, a pleading, helpless gesture.

"I'm so sorry William," he whispered as he grasped the doorframe as if his legs would not hold him up any longer.

Murdoch just stared at him, not moving, frozen in place, as if his body knew if he moved even a fraction in any direction the pain would tear him to shreds.

"There was an attack," Darcy said, his voice horse, "we think it was Thugs, they slaughtered everyone and took the women…. I'm so sorry Murdoch."

The light left completely, everything went black, there was no floor under his feet, not sky above him, nothing in front of him and nothing behind him, an endless expanse of total darkness, black nothing, he stood in a void, not even sound could reach him, he was suddenly empty.

_I love you William._

Agony sliced through him as if each word tore a piece off him.

_Your logic is infuriating William!_

He let the pain take him, let it run him through with spears of memories.

_Yes I will marry you._

Gone. Her sweetly twisted sense of humor, gone.

_That was meant to raise your spirits Detective Murdoch._

That amazing mind, gone.

_I read about that William,_

Her honorable strength, gone.

_I can not in good conscience continue._

Her unquenchable spirit, gone.

_My Hippocratic oath trumps yours!_

His heart, and soul, taken.

_Julia taken, taken,_

"Taken!" He shouted, sitting up, the glass of brandy Sir Henry was trying to feed him went flying as he shot out of the chair.

"You said taken?" he grabbed Darcy by the lapels and hauled him out of his chair.

Darcy nodded, pity twisting his features, "Murdoch, you know what they will do to her, you must not hold out hope. She's gone to us," he said softly. Murdoch snarled at him and shoved him back so hard he fell back into his chair.

"Taken is alive, not dead. Taken is alive," he snapped turning around in a circle as he tried to get his thoughts together,

"Be reasonable man, even if you could find her, and she is still alive, she would not be the same, she would be damaged, soiled, sold to the highest bidder." Darcy tried again, distaste coloring his words.

Murdoch turned to him in icy fury, "I don't care if she has to become the whore of Babylon to survive, as long she lives. I will find her and Julia knows that. She will fight and bargain and do anything and everything she can to stay alive," he stormed out the door. Sir Henry sank down into his chair and poured himself another shot of brandy, threw it back, then rose to suddenly much steadier feet.

"We will need you to contact the people who sent her to India, tell them I demand all of their information on this. I want to know exactly where, who, why and how. Also have them contact me to make arrangements for our arrival in India." Sir Henry ordered, then shooed him off when he stood there gaping.

"Tell them I want the person who contacted them to be waiting for us when we arrive, anyone and everyone who had any contact with Julia and the group she was with I want to know." Murdoch ordered as he came down the stairs fully dressed, carrying a small carry case.

Sir Henry looked him over and nodded, "we'll have to buy any clothing we need as we go," he said.

Murdoch nodded and led the way out of the door, Sir Henry and a very shocked Darcy behind him.

His entire being was focused on moving forward, the next step, the next carriage ride, the next train stop, the next ship port. Every mile he covered brought him closer to her, closer to finding her. It was the only thing he thought about, the only thing he could think about, because if he stopped thinking, planning, plotting and studying every morsel of information they collected over and over, the fear and the awful black wave of emptiness that was there hovering just beyond the hope, the prayers and the faith, would consume him and he might not be able to drag his way out of it a second time.

* * *

Her head ached, along with her bruised and swollen face, and every other part of her anatomy. Thankfully her corset had protected her body from the worst of the blows the fat swine had landed, but she'd won one small victory, he'd not managed to have her. Despite the beating and the knife he'd held to her throat she'd fought him like a wild thing, when the scar faced leader had stormed into the tent and saved her, she'd already bloodied the bastard.

Now the swine's body lay somewhere behind them, food for the carrion and the big scarred man watched her with a growing interest that she knew could not be good. He'd killed the man that tried to rape her, but she knew it was not out of any sense of decency towards her. Now he came to her cage often throughout the day, studying her.

"Please be careful Miss doctor, it is not good to look Xui in the eyes," the soft sing song voice whispered near her ear, and Julia turned around. During the night someone had slipped a blanket though the bars behind her, and tried to make her more comfortable, it smelt of horse and she knew it came from him.

The youngster was about sixteen, she'd seen him often around the camp tending to the horses. The men treated him as if he were invisible. He cleaned and kept the fires but never rising from his bowed crouch, always keeping himself below eye level and as inconspicuous as possible.

At first she had assumed he was a Harijan, an untouchable. The very lowest in a caste system that made the English class system look like school yard play.

"Thank you for the blanket," she said softly, keeping a careful eye out for anyone watching. She'd seen him getting beaten just for catching one of the men's attention, the last thing she wanted was for him to get into more trouble for talking to her.

"I am sorry it is not very clean," he said, and she heard a little humor in his voice, "the horses do not mind a little dirt."

Julia snuggled deeper into it, the sun was setting and while the days were unbelievably hot, the nights were slightly above freezing. A simple thing like that blanket was a god send on both night and day, she'd managed to pull some of it over the bars of the cage and give herself a little shade from the unrelenting sun.

"It will probably save my life over the next few days," she said firmly, then turned to look at him. He had the clean classic lines of a face that would one day break hearts, with eyes the color of burnt amber that almost glowed in the gathering darkness, and something about those eyes made her pause. He did not look like any untouchable she had seen, they all had a beaten, broken, resignation in their eyes, the world was so cruel, so often and so completely they seemed to expect nothing else. He didn't, she saw strength, courage, kindness and a very sharp mind behind those eyes.

"You are not …" she did not know any way to ask him without sounding rude, he cocked his head to one side, looking over her shoulder for a moment then tapped his nose and grinned, but said nothing as he scrambled back into the bushes.

Julia wrapped the blanket more securely around her, and drawing up her knees she prepared for another night of no sleep as she kept vigil, studying every inch of her surroundings and listening to the men talk. Not for the first time since the night they took her did she silently thank her Hindu professor for his language lessons, though rudimentary and by no means fluent, she was learning more and more every day.

Xui moved towards her, sliding into the shadows, he moved silently, like a hunter, and it was only because she instinctively kept a track on him whenever he was within sight that she could see him now. She kept her eyes semi closed, as if dozing, but watched him peripherally.

The night their camp had been attacked she'd been awake, writing in her journal. Shots and screaming had brought her running out of her tent and into hell itself. There was blood and bodies everywhere, and men with horses shouting, women screaming, and cries for mercy from both servants and the doctors. Xui had shown them none, coldly and viciously he'd slaughtered all the servants and guards, beaten the rest of the men viciously while the women cowered in terrified horror, he'd ordered his men to line them up and manacle them together. Too shocked to move, Julia stood outside her tent and watched it all until one of the men spotted her and rode over shouting orders at her.

It snapped her out of shock long enough for her to grab her tent pole, yank it out and knock him off his horse with it. He'd rolled to his feet drawing a long thick curved blade in a perfectly practiced move. A shout from behind her was the last warning she got before pain shot through her head and she tumbled into darkness.

Now she watched and waited, every night she worked on loosening a long nail holding the floor of wooden cage on wheels together. During the day she dragged that cage, tethered to it like a beast, the deep blisters from the yoke got worse and the wounds deeper, but bleeding and bruised she refused to give an inch.

"I know you are not sleeping Doctor," his voice was husky, and surprisingly gentle, yet it still made her skin crawl.

When he came and stood by her cage she had to force herself not to cringe into the farthest corner, she turned her head to watch him but did not reply.

"My English is good, this I know, but if you prefer the language of your little friend there I will speak to you in Hindi," he said and she bit her tongue, fear freezing her spine.

"What friend?" she snapped, "he is nothing but a servant, I do not consider them friends," she stated coldly. Silently praying that it would save her saviors life. Xui was a vicious animal, everything he had done up to this point had been to break her will, to beat her down until she was as broken and damaged as the slaves that served him.

Xui watched her for a moment, a slight frown on his face, "typical of the English, someone does you a good turn and you look down on them," he stated and shaking his head moved away.

"I'm not English," she muttered when she was sure he was out of earshot.

She did not see her friend for the next two days and, sad as that made her, she knew she was in no condition to worry about him. She'd woken up in the early hours of the morning with a raging fever, weak and aching all over. Her water ration for the day already long gone, and the hours in the sun had become one torturous step after another. The blistering from the yoke had turned into open sores that soaked her shirt with yellow puss sticking the cloth to the wounds as it dried in the sun.

"_Julia,"_

William's voice whispered in her ear and her head shot up, she realized she'd lost time. Desperately she tried to focus on her surroundings, but she was so exhausted and in so much pain that she no longer knew what she was doing it for.

The further away from civilization they went the more impossible it would be for anyone to find her, if they even knew she was missing, and it would be weeks before anyone managed to get here to save her. Weeks would be too late.

"_You are staying alive, that is all that matters," William's voice again and this time when she looked up she was no longer in the desert, she was sitting in William's office. He rose from behind his desk and moved closer to her, taking her hand as he settled against the desk beside her._

"_Was it all a bad dream?" she asked confused. Murdoch stroked her hand and shook his head, such sorrow on his expressive face._

"_No," he said, then leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead._

"_You have to wake up Julia, you have to fight on just a little while longer," he whispered. She cringed away and shook her head, "I can't William, I am so sorry but I can not," hating herself for the whimpering weakling she was._

"_Not a weakling, never that, you have more strength in you than any ten men and you can do this," he told her taking her chin and bringing her face up to meet his eyes._

"_I am coming, don't doubt that for a minute, you know how resourceful I am, trust in that,"_

"She's feverish, if we do not manage to cool her down she will not last the night,"

The words were spoken by a woman and for a moment Murdoch seemed to grow transparent, her surroundings shimmered and she was suddenly so cold, her teeth were clattering. Then it was gone and Murdoch was there again.

"_They are trying to save you Julia,"_

"_For what?" she snapped, she did not want to go back to the horror. _

_Murdoch didn't answer that, he looked over her shoulder for a moment, then back at her and there was a steely determination in his eyes._

"_Find out," he ordered, "you have been with them for ten days, it's time to stop just being and start questioning," he said shortly, "And where are your friends? Why have you not asked about them yet?" _

_Guilt pushed at her and Julia turned her face away, they were now no longer in his office, but in the cells under the precinct._

"We will receive nothing if she dies."

She knew that voice, hated it with a deep and bitter loathing, as her surroundings once again shimmered in and out of focus.

"We are doing everything, but…" the voice hesitated, and she could taste the fear in the air around them.

"Speak old woman before you anger me," Xui snarled.

"Forgive me lord, but she did this to herself," the woman's voice trembled as she spoke, "she refused to eat, and wasted her daily ration of water to wash with, " her voice trembled slightly, "you said she is to be broken, and we tried," she ended on a soft whisper.

"_They wanted to break me," she muttered as Murdoch turned over in the bed, his face close to hers on their shared a pillow._

"_They can not if you do not let them," he said softly, his lips so temptingly close, "but choosing death is not the answer," he scolded gently his hand brushing her cheek._

"_You must live Julia, live and do not loose hope, live to fight another day." _

His touch on her cheek became a stinging slap that shot her back to reality with a hoarsely muttered curse. She opened her eyes to see the wizard face of the woman healer, cold dead eyes glared at her as she rubbed her abused cheek.

"You of course had to chose the one already swollen to slap," she snapped, shoving her back as she tried to sit up.

"Stop, rest, the master will see you tonight and you are to be better restored when he does," the old woman snarled batting her hands away. Julia was still too weak to argue with her so she sank back against the pillows.

"Why was I to be broken?" she asked, pushing the offered water away when the healer tried to feed it to her.

The woman's eyes narrowed and she grabbed Julia's hair and forced her head back, trying to force the water down her throat. Julia allowed it to fill her mouth, sweet water, her parched throat burned for it, but she spat in back in the healers face as she pushed the woman back. The hag flew off her chair to land on the floor with a yelp.

Julia sat up quickly, regretting it almost instantly when the room swam around her and darkness threatened to suck her under again.

"Very well, a bargain then," said the healer as she groaned to her feet and sat back on the stool beside the bed.

"You will lay back down and drink what I give you, eat what I give you, and I will answer your question," she said slyly. Julia could not look at her, she was trying to focus on one point on the floor to keep from passing out.

"All my questions," she demanded stubbornly, "all or nothing, and choose quickly because if I sit here much longer your master is going to be talking to a corpse tonight," she snapped.

"Done, now lie down," she hissed as she shoved her back on the bed.

"You need to work on your bedside manner," Julia muttered but let herself relax against the pillows again.

She took the offered water and this time drank it in slow soothing sips, her stomach contracted and she nearly doubled over at the pain, but continued to drink slowly despite the desperate thirst that screamed at her to gulp and gorge.

"The one who is to be your master wishes you to be more manageable," the healer said, moving to the side and lifting a bowl of steaming gruel. It looked like grey slime, but the nutty smell of oats was not unpleasant.

Julia let her feed her a spoon full, and while not at all appetizing, it was warm and did not taste bad.

"My master?" she even managed it without a snarl, though that could be because she was talking around another mouthful of oats.

"Yes, he is paying handsomely for your delivery," she said it with a touch of pride and Julia thought the porridge would spew back out at any moment.

"He ordered the attack?" she asked it in a harsh whisper. The old woman studied her for a moment, and there finally was a drop of compassion in her dead eyes.

"Yes," she pushed Julia back when she started to gag, "but the master was already going to take your party, the riches and ransoms for a group of Englishmen so close to our land was too good an opportunity to miss," she sighed, and shook her head, "you must submit young one, all this fighting will only make everything worse for you. Where you are going there will be no mercy, and no one who cares whether you live or die, these people consider women somewhere far below that of a horse and slightly above that of a dog, and English women even below the dog."

Julia contemplated the horror that was in her future, and could not swallow another spoon of porridge, to her surprise the old woman put it aside.

"I can help you," she said softly, leaning forward.

Julia frowned at her warily, "how and why?" she asked not trusting her an inch.

"I can give you the sweet kiss of death, painless, and quick," she hissed, "not here of course, but once you reach your new home you will wish for a quick easy death," she lifted a tiny exquisitely delicate bottle, brightly colored and decorated.

"One taste of this and your troubles will be over in minutes," she said, holding it just out of reach. "I will trade you for that pretty ring you hide in your clothing."

Julia shuddered, the temptation overwhelming.

"_You must live Julia."_

She knew then she could not do it, as long as there was a breath left in her body she would put her trust in Murdoch.

"Take it away Hag," she snarled, and turned her head away when the woman cackled like a demented beast.

And then the shooting started again.


	8. Chapter 7

India was a cultural shock that would under normal circumstances have left him reeling in delighted excitement.

It was overwhelmingly foreign, everything was colorful and brighter, the smells more intense, the heat almost sweltering and the people, so many people. So different and exotic, so many various sounds, even the language was musical almost, like a cacophony of different tunes blaring out all at the same time.

"I am Nal, Sirs will follow me please, I am taking you to Sir District Commissioner." The man bowed with his hands pressed together in a prayer like gesture. Murdoch nodded back at him and raised a questioning eyebrow to Sir Henry.

"Very good, lead the way," he said to Nal, and turned to Murdoch "Lord Covington is an old friend, he is also Julia's godfather. I sent him a telegram from Canada."

Nal lead them to two small palanquins and pulled back the curtain for Murdoch to step in. He eyed the contraption warily and looked over at Sir Henry, "I would prefer to walk." He said quietly.

"Detective Murdoch will stretch his legs Nal," he told Nal and climbed into the offered Palanquin, leaning heavily on his cane. Murdoch frowned, he'd been so wrapped up in his own hell, that he'd failed to notice how much Julia's father had aged in the last few days, as if the strain and grief were slowly leaching all the life out of him. His eyes once so bright and vibrant, filled with intelligence and humor, were now dull and milky, the robust healthy color of his face had become a sickly grey. Another layer of fear added to the already overwhelming load he was carrying. Julia's father had become dear to him, a friend, a mentor and more of a father than his own had ever been. Now as he walked beside the strange closed in litter, he knew that wherever the search for Julia led him, he could not take Sir Henry with, and that on its own was a battle he did not relish facing.

The District Commission building was a combination of both English practicality, and Indian beauty. Murdoch saw none of it, as they went up the wide winding staircase he kept a closer eye on Sir Henry, getting more worried every step the man took, by the last step the man was out of breath and shaking.

"Sir Henry?" Murdoch grasped the older man's elbow. Sir Henry shook him off and straightened, a warning frown on his face.

The double doors flung open and a small robust man practically hopped through them, his white uniform perfectly starched, each button polished to gleaming perfection, almost as perfect as his red turban.

"Sir Henry, Mr. Murdoch, the Commissioner will see you immediately." He said and waved them into the massive room.

Lord Covington stood and moved around his desk the moment they entered, he was a tall man with the take-charge air that only the aristocracy can create effortless. Now as he watched Sir Henry cross the room concern deepened the lines on his face.

"Henry, please come in, sit. I have ordered tea," he said gently but firmly hedging Sir Henry towards the chair.

The older man let him, sinking into the plush comfort with an almost audible sigh. Mission accomplished he turned to Murdoch and extended a hand, "Detective, I have heard good things about you," he said as they shook hands.

"What news have you on my wife?" Murdoch demanded, he had no time for polite conversation and social niceties.

"We have had a very small bit of luck, the ship that brought Julia to Bombay is on its return journey and will be sailing into port in the morning," he said settling against his desk and crossing his arms, "it might be nothing but I have heard that something happened on the ship, and while I have no exact details it might give us a clue. The Captain has agreed to see you the moment he docks." He nodded to Murdoch.

"Where exactly was she taken?" Sir Henry asked, "I find it beyond negligent to send a group of unprepared academics into a dangerous area," he snapped, color blooming into his cheeks as the anger that had been eating him from the moment he'd been plunged into this nightmare spewed forth. Covington frowned, as one of the most powerful men in the country and a peer of the crown he was not usually spoken to like that, but he looked at the both men with more than a little empathy.

"I fully agree with you Ogden, but from my many correspondence with the head of the Red Cross organization that arranged all this, Julia's group was not where they were supposed to be." He said, then held up his hands to stop any questions while the tea was brought in. He waited as the servant poured it and with a pointed look at Murdoch he added a heavy dose of brandy to Sir Henry's before handing it to him, when the servant scrambling out of the room he continued talking, "I have the correspondence and the exact latitude and longitude on the map where they were supposed to be, and it's over three hundred miles east of where they were."

He rolled out the map and moved behind his desk to make room for Murdoch, "the guides were supposed to bring them to this region here," he indicated a section halfway between Bombay and Bangalore, "there are many villages along there that needs doctors," he murmured, pointing to another section more central, "there is a larger cluster of villages and even a little town around here, where Quentin was to build a small hospital," he shook his head then moved his hand north, near the top of India, "the remains of the camp was found here." The words were softly spoken, but Murdoch felt the icy fear in his words.

"That's close to Kashmir," Murdoch murmured, and Covington nodded.

"And Afghanistan," he said turning away from the map and pouring a stiff shot of brandy from a crystal canter on his desk and handed it to Murdoch completely ignoring his head shake.

"How did you find it?" Murdoch asked looking down that the, map still holding the untouched brandy, "we were told there were no survivors, but from what I can ascertain your people were at the scene mere days after?" he formed it as a question, the sheer magnitude of the distance between the two points made it the perfect setting for the bandits, no one would have even known where they were never mind look for them.

"Your wife told us," Covington said quietly, moving away from the desk and to the door, he opened it and called something out to one of the guards.

"I'm sorry for the drama," he said as he turned back to the two stunned and desperately hopeful faces staring at him, "Julia took lessons on the ship with a Professor Malhotra of the University of Calcutta," he went back to his desk, "when they parted ways in Bombay, he suggested that she practice her vocabulary by writing to him of her travels, in Hindu," he opened the drawer behind his desk and took out a thin pile of papers. Murdoch recognized Julia's hand immediately and his heart gave a pathetic lurch, his hands trembled as he reached for them.

Her clear and neat handwriting flowed in a language he could not understand, but just the knowledge that he held something that she had touched in his hand was enough to make his heart race.

"She was lucky, Professor Malhotra is a hobby cartographer, when he realized from her descriptions that she was heading in a completely false direction, he contacted his local regional commissioner and insisted that someone look into it."

There was a knock on the door and a small man stepped into the room, his dark eyes both intelligent and kind.

"The Professor has taken time away from his work in the university and offered to act as a guide." Covington offered the man a seat, shaking his hand warmly in greeting.

"Namaste Detective Murdoch, Sir Henry," The Professor said bowing over the joined palms of both hands, then turned and repeated the process to Sir Henry, waving him back when he would have risen.

Murdoch bowed his head slightly, though he still cradled the letters in his hands, the professor settled into his chair his eyes on Murdoch and the understanding in them was clear.

"Your wife is a strong and determined woman," he said softly, "we will find her." Murdoch nodded unable to speak yet.

"Professor Malhotra has also brought another clue to light," Covington stated, gently taking the letters from Murdoch.

"Yes, I was told that the Thugs have been blamed for the attack," he said shaking his head and leaning forward in his chair, "I am certain that is not correct. Thugs were assassins, by the very nature of that they did not travel in large packs. They preyed on the rich caravans that traveled between cities and countries, and always with stealth and deception," he explained, "their method of execution was also not as bloody as this. As assassins they used strangulation and sometimes knives, but more important it was silent and quick."

Murdoch's head snapped up and he frowned "you speak in the past tense?"

"Indeed, the Thugs were hunted down and destroyed nearly fifty years ago," the professor frowned at the map and shook his head, "I know this area," he murmured, "there are two paths they could have taken, one circles around and head's towards Dehli, the other heads up into the mountains, running directly through Maharaja Vishnu's kingdom." He muttered tutting and shaking his head.

"Why is that bad?" he asked, Lord Covington answered him.

"Vishnu's not a friend of the crown, he was educated in England, and spent a lot of his formative years there. It's given him a strong dislike for anything English, his kingdom is the only area we have no jurisdiction in. And with his proximity to Afghanistan he's our first line of defense there. He threatened to hand his entire land, lock stock and barrel over to the Afghanis if we so much as sneezed in his direction."

A commotion by the door stopped Murdoch from asking more questions as a dusty and exhausted man stumbled into the room waving a parchment and shouting in Hindi.

"It's a ransom demand," Lord Covington said snatching the paper off him, he unfurled it and read it, Sir Henry jumping to his feet beside him. When he looked up his face was ashen and a deep sorrow filled his eyes.

"They have listed the hostages being ransomed," he stated, his voice flat and hard, "Julia's name is not on here."

Murdoch roared in agony. There can be no ransom demand for someone who is already dead.

* * *

"Miss Doctor, come" her young friend scrambled in from under the tent wall, and ducked down beside her bed eyeing the flap the old woman had disappeared through, she'd taken off the moment the first shot's had sounded.

"What's happened?" Julia demanded forcing her aching body to stand and follow him to the small slit he cut into the tent.

"Men attack, many many, we go quickly," he said shoving her none to gently towards the hole, when she bent to look through it he put his hands on her rump and pushed. Julia went face first into the dirt outside, spitting out grass and sand and cursing him in very unladylike language.

He scrambled out behind her carefully closing the hole, then turning to her gave her a quick grin, "Servant Avi reporting for duty!" he mocked and she gaped speechless for a second, then chuckled for the first time in forever. She was half dead, in the clutches of a bandit intent on selling her to a pervert in the guise of royalty, and in the middle of another attack by possibly worse bandits intent on even worse atrocities, and this wonderfully brave boy was teasing her.

"Julia, and I have no need for a servant and every need for a friend," she finally said. Avi nodded and rose, giving her a hand up as he did. Once on his feet he handed her a bag he'd hidden beside the tent wall, and strapped another one around his shoulders.

"You called me servant, but I know why," he told her, then became all serious and stern, "we run, we hide, we wait, we maybe live." He said simply.

Julia blinked at him a moment then shrugged, "very well, lead the way Mac-Avi," he shocked her again by giving her a cheeky grin and saying.

"Shak-es-peer, very good," as he grabbed her hand, tugged her in a crouched scramble between the tents, and into the sparse covering of shrubbery around the camp.

She tried not to think about her friends, tried not to let guilt eat at her as she followed Avi from one thicket to the next, looking for every tiny bit of cover they could hide in. Behind them there were shouts, screams and gunshots, and her friends were there somewhere in the middle of it, if they were even still alive.

"_You cannot help them by dying beside them,"_

Murdoch's voice again, pushing her on, forcing her forward. As a trained psychiatrist she knew it was just her own mind disguising itself as the one person she would always take notice of, and listen to. But her heart beat faster nevertheless.

It took forever, and the sound of horse hooves came very close to where they ducked and hid on more than one occasion, but by the time the sun was sinking behind them, Avi had managed to get them to a rocky canyon and it did not take them long to find a cave to hide out in.

Julia was trembling and barely able to walk another step. Gentle hands slid the bag from her shoulders and urged her deeper into the cave.

"Do not fear Miss Julia, the creatures in this cave can never harm you as badly as the ones we run from," he said as he propelled her into the blackness. Julia did not answer, her legs gave way under her and Avi caught her around the waist, and with surprising strength lowered her to the ground, it was the last thing she knew.

Water trickling over her lips woke her, like a baby bird she opened her mouth and let the sweet relief of it wash the dry dust from her tongue and throat. She knew exactly where she was, going from unconscious to fully aware in the instant her mind had reactivated. Vaguely somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it was a result of being in extreme situations where her brain knew that to be awake meant she needed to be aware.

She let Avi feed her a little more water, before gently pushing it away. She lay with her head on his lap and there was a small fire throwing a pale cone of light into the thick darkness, it surprised her that for the first time since leaving Canada she felt cared for.

Easing up proved a little more difficult, and not possible without the young man's strong arms. He'd saved her life, half carried her the last few miles, and all that while carrying a load that was three times as heavy as hers along with a huge skin filled with water. Then while she'd collapsed into oblivion, he'd built a fire, unpacked utensils and even managed to cook a strange gruel mixture that looked like buttered rice pudding, all that he'd done with an easy manner and gentle hand. She could no longer think of or treat him as a boy, he deserved the respect due to a man.

"I'm sorry Avi," she sighed fear once again catching her in its grip and closing up her throat. She was weak and a hindrance, without her dragging him down Avi would have been long gone, safely hiding far away from any danger, she did not fool herself into thinking that this cave was a refuge. They had left a trail all the way across the plains that anyone looking for them would follow easily.

He threw the familiar blanket over her shoulders and gently rested a hand atop her head, it was a gesture she'd seen Avi's people use occasionally, it was a form of blessing, a silent prayer of protection and a way of wishing goodness and good fortune.

"I am a danger to you Avi, you must go, I will eventually find my own way, but I cannot let you place your life in my hands like this," she said firmly.

Avi snorted out a laugh and shook his head. "Find your way to where?" his expression genuinely interested.

Julia narrowed her eyes at him, realizing that she actually had no idea where she was, and no idea in which direction any form of life, not trying to kill or sell her, was. That statement had to have been the dumbest she'd ever made, so she shrugged and said nothing.

"I came back for you," he said gently as he moved to the fire and the pot bubbling on it, Julia gaped at him but since she did not know what to say to that either she waited for him to say more.

"When I hear what you tell Xui I know he will hurt me to hurt you, so I leave," he handed her a small bowl of the buttered rice, she took it and thanked him, looking around for a spoon. Avi grinned at her, took his own bowl, reached in with his fingertips and after molding some of the rice into a little ball slipped it into his mouth.

She winced then wiping her hands down on her skirt gingerly tried to copy him, it took her many tries, rice running down her chin and even one on the end of her nose, Avi's laughter and a few muttered curses from her but she eventually found the knack, just in time to realize her bowl was empty and her belly was pleasantly full.

He rose and handed her a cloth, showing her how to use the sand to rub her hands clean and the cloth to clear off the dust. It was extraordinary how it actually worked, but she still would not trade it for soap and water.

"Why did you come back Avi," she finally said after he'd handed her the water and insisted she drink her fill.

"I will show you something," he said shyly, and she nodded, he hesitated as if trying to decide how best to do it, "I am sorry Miss, but I must remove my trousers," she could have sworn he blushed, his toffee skin going a few shades darker.

"Avi I am a doctor," she insisted gently, still he stood waiting. Understanding that he would not feel comfortable until she turned away, Julia scrambled around until her back was to him and drawing up her knees settled her head on them.

"You may want to move closer to the light," he said softly.

She semi rose and turned, trying not to look at him directly as she neared the light, he was sitting, his trousers in his lap, his right leg stretched out, even without the light she could see the long rigid scar running down from his hip halfway to his knee. She knew that scar, and what it meant.

"I recognize this, your leg was twisted? A birth deformity?" she asked, without thinking she moved the leg slightly closer to the light completely concentrating on the scar, muttering to herself as she did.

"I do not know, but as long as I can remember," he answered.

She touched the scar prodding on it gently, then nodded.

"German, definitely, did he leave the spikes in or take them out?" she asked, looking for the secondary scar that would answer her question.

"He took them out a month later," Avi said remembering the pain, but also the wonder.

"They used a plaster of paris?"

Again Avi nodded, "many months, it was very uncomfortable," he said.

She sat back eventually and rose, turning her back to allow him to dress, "how?" she asked, everything she had thought or assumed about Avi was wrong. Surgery like that, even in an experimental hospital, would have been very expensive, and she very much doubted that Xui would have paid for it.

"I am dressed," he said quietly, and she turned watching him with wary eyes, something did not add up and it suddenly occurred to her that she did not know him at all.

"I will tell you my history Doctor, but I would ask that you remain trusting me," he said sadly, Julia realized she had put as much distance between them as she could and that she was slowly backing towards the cave exit.

Wincing in apology, she moved back to the fire and settled down with her back to the cave wall.

"My first remembrance is being in a cage, like you, only there were many of us, all children," he frowned, "I think I was very young, I do not know my exact age, but I was not older than four."

Julia felt her throat close up.

"We were not treated well, and many of us died on the journey. Then one day there was noise and shouting and men in red with shiny gold buttons and golden hair came riding into the camp," he said and there was still awe in his voice. She wondered where the fear was, being tied up and locked in a cage at age four there should have been terror in that memory.

"We were taken out of the cage, and brought to the one that was their leader," again there was no fear in his voice, "he was kind and gave us milk, and something sweet to eat," he cocked his head at the memory, subconsciously rubbing his scar.

"He noticed my leg and singled me out from the others," at that he looked over at her, "I did not understand him or what he represented but I do now. He was a commanding office in the British army," he lifted his head, Julia was riveted.

"He and his wife had no children, so they took in lost children from all over India and raised us, taught us and gave us purpose."

"They adopted you?" she asked incredulously, but Avi shook his head.

"No Miss, we worked for them, they were kind and good to us but we were servants not family," there was pride in his words, no bitterness, no anger, just gratitude and pride. Julia was shamed and humbled by it.

"Did they teach you to read Shakespeare?" she grinned as she asked, and Avi's eyes lit up in an almost fanatical fervor.

"Memsahib collected books, all types of books, they had so many of them Sahib threatened to build a fire and burn them all," his expression went sad, a little lost, "they took me to a German doctor and he fixed my leg, it took many months and much pain, Memsahib came every day and brought me books, we would sit and read together."

He was silent for a very long time gazing into the fire, a lone tear trickled down his cheek but he did not wipe it away, Julia's heart contracted knowing that he was reliving some form of tragedy perhaps for the first time.

He looked up at her with a frown, "what year is it?" he asked. Julia told him, he blinked for a moment then shook his head, "only five years, it has felt longer," he sighed and again was lost in the dancing flames. The woman in her ached to hug him tight and urge him on, but the psychiatrist knew he had to work through this at his own pace.

"Every year Memsahib would pack us all together and we would travel from our little farm outside Bombay, to Goa, to a house beside the ocean," he lifted his face and closed his eyes, as if he could feel the ocean breeze.

"Xui's men attacked us on that road, Sahib fought them, so did the bigger boys and the guard, but… " he shook his head unable to even say the words, "memsahib ran to her husband's body, crying and praying. Xui ordered her to get up, and when she did not he went to force her," his face hardened. Julia realized that Avi's face showed his every thought even before he spoke them.

"She took Sahib's sword and raised it against Xui, his men shot her down but not before she cut him, he still wears her scare today," there was a cold satisfaction in that statement.

She moved up next to him carefully, and gently touched her hand to his head. He looked up and smiled at her, "when I see you I know it is time to go. I was going to find an English fort and tell them where you were, but then I see the men on horses and I know you are in danger."

"Thank you Avi, once again you saved my life," she said bumping shoulders with him, "now we just have to figure out how to save my friends," she sighed.

Avi straightened and frowned at her, "your doctor friends?" he asked, and she nodded a sick sense of doom settling in her stomach.

"They are long gone Miss Julia," he said shaking his head and Julia paled in horror.

"He killed them?" she gasped, Avi shook his head quickly.

"No, no, they are being taken to Dehli, to be ransomed," he said, then gently touched her arm as she brightened and hope flared in her eyes.

"When my people see I am not with them they will come looking for me," she said her heart a little lighter, only to be dashed to the deepest pits when he shook his head again.

"No Miss, Xui tell the doctors that you are killed," he carefully put an arm around her shoulders, "I am very sorry, but no one will be coming for you. They think you are dead."


	9. Chapter 8

Everything inside Murdoch stopped functioning, his mind just shut off, overwhelmed by the vacuum growing inside him. He breathed, he moved, he followed orders, but like an automaton there was no will behind any of it.

Surprisingly it was Sir Henry that became the strength that held him tethered in the here and now. Julia's father got them settled in a Lord Covington's guesthouse and he arranged to see the Captain of the ship the next day. He urged, coaxed and plain pushed Murdoch onwards.

The Captain told them of the incident on the ship and the Prince's determination to win her at any cost. A slither of reason wormed it's way into Murdoch's mind like a seed trying to grow, but it withered and died almost instantly. His brain was simply unable to hear anything above the screams of rage and loss echoing though it.

When Covington received the confirmation of Julia's death from the ransomed Quentin, along with a heartfelt condolence and apology for his indirect responsibility in what occurred. William was already lost inside his own hell, he simply moved from alcohol to opium, he didn't care what he took, smoked or drank as long as it gave him a measure of oblivion and not even Sir Henry could reach him any more.

When in a moment of clarity a gun appeared in his hand as if from nowhere, he studied it, and stared temptation in the face. His faith forbade him from putting it to his head and ending it, but his faith could not bring his wife back and the gun could take him to her.

"_I'm not sure I want you, the state you are in," Julia's voice snapped and his head shot up, she stood in the doorway of his office looking spitting mad, her little foot tapping impatiently, fire in her eyes, " not to mention with all the sin and vice sticking to you right now, if I were in your god's heaven you certainly would not be permitted to join me there." She moved closer to him and put both hands on his desk leaning in._

"_Julia," he managed to croak out of a constricted throat._

"_Listen and listen well William Murdoch. I have never known you to give up on a case, and I think I deserve more than for you to simply accept my fate without question."_

_He shook his head, trying to rise out of his chair, but the world shook and spun and blinked out, only to blink back in again with him lying in their bed, her head on the pillow beside him._

"_I can't live without you, I can't function," he said softly, "you ask too much." He tried to reach for her, tried to hold her but his hands and arms would not move._

"_Where is my body Will?" she asked softly, "find my body and give me peace, that is all I ask of you," she said softly, reaching over she kissed him softly._

"Do not try to move yet, they have fed fluids into your body but you are still very weak." Sir Henry's voice was gentle, but the underlying exhaustion in it shamed Murdoch into obeying. That and the sound of Julia's voice still echoing through his head.

His throat hurt and he raised a hand to it, "we had to force a tube down your throat William, it will be a tender for a while, but I have warm honey tea that should ease it."

Murdoch looked around, he was lying on his bed in the midst of filth and chaos. Broken bottles and garbage strewn everywhere, turned the richly decorated room into a hovel. The sickeningly sweet stench of opium clogged up his nose, along with the smell of unwashed body. It took him a moment to realize the smell came from him.

Again he tried to sit up, his body felt heavy, his limbs responding slowly and sluggishly. A strong arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him up, something slid off his chest and clattered to the floor, he blinked trying to clear his shaking vision, an ornate opium pipe lay beside the bed.

"Thank you," he managed when he was sitting on his own, he looked up into icy blue eyes as Lord Covington stepped back, dressed in nothing but a linen shirt and his trousers.

"Henry would you find a servant and tell them Detective Murdoch will be needing a bath, fresh clothing and a new room," he ordered gently. Sir Henry frowned but got to his feet and did as bid.

Murdoch waited for the condemnation, there was a lethal cold fury in Lord Covington's eyes and he deserved every bit of it.

"Where are the bodies?" he asked remembering Julia's words, and affectively cutting off Lord Covington's tirade before it even began.

When he did not get an immediate reply he looked up the other man, "did you find bodies?" he asked impatiently.

"Yes, they were left where they died for the carrion to feed," he said frowning, then understanding sank in, "but not Julia, they did not find Julia." He murmured, "but that can only mean they took her with them," his frown deepened as he spoke.

Murdoch shook his head, "the time line does not fit, " he said, trying to get to his feet, but he was still too week. It angered and frustrated him, his mind had woken with a vengeance and things were clicking and whirling as image after image flittered through his brain, possibilities, inconsistencies, patterns and puzzles.

"It does seem odd," he murmured, then put a finger over his mouth in warning when the door opened and a servant stepped into the room.

"Sir's bath is ready Sahib, we have prepared the west room."

Covington nodded, then turned to Murdoch and spoke just above a whisper, "we will talk more once you are dressed and have recovered a little."

It took longer than he could bear to get himself back onto his feet without assistance. Covington sent his Valet over to help him along, and Murdoch was a little confused why Covington would go to so much trouble, until he met the crusty old codger.

"Ye'll eat every blasted bite off that plate boyo, or I'll get them there darkies to sit on ye while I shove it down ye gullet!" he said as he slammed a plate of some sort of stew down on the table in front of Murdoch.

He'd in part sworn, bullied, manhandled and shamed Murdoch into drinking some horrible tea concoction, and then he'd given him a haircut and a shave with a straight razor. If Murdoch had not been so distracted with his own thoughts he might have feared having his throat slit, but aside from having the closest shave he'd ever had in his life, there was not even a tiny cut on his skin. Orwin knew what he was doing.

Now as he stomped away muttering derogatory curses, the wooden stump that was his left leg making a resounding thump with every step. Murdoch sat dutifully spooning the surprisingly delicious stew into his mouth. He was scraping the last crumb off the plate when Covington strode in, once again dressed to elegant perfection. The twinkle in his eyes belying the cool aristocratic mask he wore.

"I see Orwin has managed to work miracles again," he said pouring himself a shot out of the crystal bottle on the sideboard. Murdoch noted he did not offer him any, not that he would have accepted. His overindulgence in vice had lost him precious weeks, where he could have been looking for answers.

"'Nd I'll thank 'is lordship not to throw me any more piddly addicts, oi've me own work to do lookin' after yerself," came the snarly rejoinder as Orwin stomped back into the room, Murdoch groaned and just managed to avoid dropping his head on the table and begging, as he smelt the pot of pungent tea Orwin was carrying.

"Groan all ye' want boyo, this here will detox you faster than a month in a monastery," he poured half the contents of the pot into a thick tin mug and slammed it down on the table, splattering droplets of the sludge green liquid over the sides.

When Covington smirked at Murdoch, Orwin produced another tin mug from his pockets, filled it and smacked it down in front of the aristocrat, who winced and sighed before raising a dictatorial brow at his Valet.

"No good lookin' at me like that yer lordship, ye've indulged in too much of the hard stuff of late yerself, now ye'll pay the price and drink up with ye'r idjit friend here."

The old man leaned in on both of them as they drank the vile stuff dutifully, "I understand that loosin' yer woman can make a man do stupid things, and I'll forgive it this time, but if I see ye in that state again I'll drown you in the bath tub and put ye out of ye misery."

With that he stomped off again still muttering.

"A very warm and friendly man my Valet, there is never a day gone by that I don't thank my luck in hiring him," Lord Covington drawled loudly after him.

"Ye didna hire me, I saved yer miserable life from more than one blade and bullet, and how do ye thank me? Turned me into yer slave, that's how," he snarled as he slammed the door behind him.

"He was my batman in my combat days, I do owe him my life," Covington said slinging back the last of the tea and chasing it with the whiskey, "he lost that leg tossing me out of the way of a cannon ball."

Murdoch finished the tea and pushed the cup away, trying to keep everything down in a stomach that was rolling.

"I paid him a small fortune as a retirement gift, even gave him a small cottage in England, but the snarly bugger tossed it back in my face and told me I can keep my charity, he'll earn his keep." Covington laughed.

"So you made him your Valet?" Murdoch posed it as a question but it was more a statement.

Covington nodded, "I have contacted the commanding office of the army barracks in Dheli, and told him to hold the hostages there until you can question them," he said sitting up straighter, "Professor Malhotra has asked to accompany you and I have allowed it. I have a private train carriage that will take you to Dheli, and from there to Lahore, which is as close to the camp as the train will go. After that I have ordered a small battalion of men to accompany you on horseback to the camp and onwards to where ever you need to go," he rose and waited while Murdoch stumbled to his feet.

"I want nothing more than to accompany you on this mission, but my presence would put both our lives in jeopardy," he said with grimace, "however if you need anything, contact me and I will make sure you have it." He said offering his hand.

Murdoch shook it, "I have one thing," he said and sighed, "Sir Henry…" Covington waved his hand.

"Don't even have to ask, Sir Henry will sleep a little deeper tonight with a sleeping draught in his brandy, and by the time he wakes up you will already be long gone." He grimaced, "though I do not relish the tongue lashing I will receive when he wakes."

* * *

Julia woke from a surprisingly deep sleep when Avi shook her shoulder, she once again became instantly aware. The cave was completely dark and she could smell the damp ash of a fire quickly extinguished.

"What is it?" she whispered letting Avi help her to her feet, "horses, men, they look for us," Avi said and she could hear the fear in his voice.

"Xui?" she asked around a lump of terror in her throat, she felt Avi's head shake.

"No, they have uniforms," he whispered, pulling her closer to the entrance. It was still semi dark outside, but the first faint light of morning was starting on the horizon.

"Not English," he said quickly as if afraid she would jump down the mountain before he finished speaking.

"How can you see that in this light?" She whispered back, straining to see anything besides shapes and shadows.

"I go look closer," he replied, and she gaped at him. He must have sensed her surprise and put a calming hand on her arm, "I am careful Miss Julia, do not worry, I was not seen," she could feel him give that little head wiggle that his people used, she was still not sure if it mean no or yes or maybe.

"How do you know they are looking for us?" she asked as he urged her back into the cave.

"They same men who attack camp, no reason to still be here unless they look for something. Only something to look for here is you," he said practically, and she heard him moving around collecting their things, she also heard the fear in his voice though he tried to hide it.

"They will not stop looking for me Avi," she said quietly, he did not answer her, but she could tell that he was upset by the level of noise he made packing up.

"Avi stop, come here and sit by me for a moment," she demanded gently, and for a long moment she thought he would refuse, but then she felt him slide down the wall beside her and she reached for his hand.

"You have saved my life twice Avi, please allow me to save yours now," she said softly, holding on when he tried to jerk his hand away and squeezing it when he shook his head vehemently.

"No miss," he whispered, and once again tried to pull away from her, but Julia was determined to hang onto him for the little bit of time they had left.

"Listen carefully, they will not harm me Avi, they are searching for me for a reason and it is not to kill me," he stopped trying to jerk his hand away and instead grasped hers back with a near bone crushing strength, "but they will kill you, and I can not live with that." She said firmly, then reaching down into her corset she pulled out her wedding band and pressed it into Avi's hand.

"Take this to the nearest British settlement…"

Avi jerked his hand back as if she'd stung him, "they will not listen to me, I show them this they will think I stole it," he snarled "we can climb higher, go deeper into the caves, it will take them weeks to find us." He insisted.

"And you have weeks worth of water and food while we do that?" she asked and felt his shoulders slump beside her.

"This is the only way, I will give you a name and a message, when the British hear it they will know you come from me," she insisted once again pressing the ring into his hand.

"Tell them to contact my godfather, Lord Edward Covington in Bombay, and that my message to him is, I'm alive Uncle Edward, tell William to come find me." She hesitated then put her head on his shoulder for a second, "then tell them where here is."

For a long time there was no sound, only the silence of the cave, something warm and wet landed on her hand and she realized Avi was crying, her heart broke just a little bit more but her determination got stronger.

"I will be alone again," his voice sounded so very young and lost, Julia gave in to her heart and putting an arm around him held him close.

"You will never be alone again Avi. I want one more promise from you," she whispered in his ear, "Whatever happens to me you will look after William," she insisted, "he will need you, and not as a servant Avi, he will need a friend."

Avi pulled back and there was enough light trickling into the cave that she could see his face a little, "who's William?" he asked with a frown. Julia snorted out a chuckle and ruffled his hair, "William Murdoch is my husband, and he is a Detective."

That brought some light into the younger man's eyes and she could see them brimming with questions, but she rose to her feet and grabbed his shoulders.

"I will try and give them a false trail and keep them away from you, though I doubt they will spend much time looking for you once they have me, you need to scramble up as high as you can and hide deep until we are gone." She ordered.

Climbing down the side of the canyon from the cave was not too difficult, but doing it silently was. Her skirt was in tatters and she had long since used up most of her petticoats as bandages and cloths for wiping. It was as she slid down a large rock on her bottom that the jarring to her body reminded her of the wounds on her neck, when the scabs were pulled and cracked by her movements. She was well on the way to healing those, surprisingly fast considering her dehydrated and undernourished state.

Julia fought the fear that threatened to chock her by keeping her mind off what she was about to do and concentrating only on that which affected her at that very moment. The rocks, the sun coming up on the horizon, placing her boots at just the right place to avoid twisting her ankle, finding a handhold that would not scrape her knuckles and most importantly keeping her skirt from tripping her up.

She made it to the bottom and keeping off the softer ground by jumping from one rocky bit to another, she moved to the other side of the canyon. Once there she climbed a small ways silently before starting back down, this time making sure to make as much noise as possible. The six men on horses rode up before she reached the ground.

Avi was right, they were not bandits. Their bright uniforms were too clean and too richly made for them to by anything but some form of guard or Army. Though not of any army she knew of, which was not saying much since she didn't even know where she was.

"Lady Doctor?" One of them called out in English, surprisingly they did not draw any weapons on her, simply sat and waited for her to climb down.

"Well theoretically I am a Doctor for both men and women, however since I am sure you mean my gender and not that of my patients I would say, yes?" she quipped as she settled on a large rock well above their heads, she wanted to see how far she could push them before the threats started.

"You will please be coming down Madam," he ordered, though respectfully. Julia frowned at him and shook her head.

"I am quite comfortable up here thank you," she needed to keep their attention on her completely, as behind them Avi climbed over a steep ledge and disappeared into a crevice.

"You will come down Madam, or we are coming to fetch you, and you could be harmed by this," apparently it did not take long at all for the threats to start. Avi appeared near the top of the canyon, crouched at the very edge of a small shelf in the rock. He waved once before sinking out of sight. Julia knew he would watch and wait to see her safe before he hid now, so she rose and started slowly down.

"I am a Canadian citizen and I demand to be taken to the nearest civilized town so that I may contact my people to fetch me." She demanded as she reached the bottom. Two of the men had dropped down from their steeds and came towards her, fear made her want to cringe back, but plain stubborn pride made her jut out her chin and slap her hands on her hips.

"You ride," the apparent leader ordered as the other man stood by his horse ready to boost her into the saddle. There was no request in his tone, and his stern cold face brooked no argument, Julia understood instantly that she could either sit up on the horse or be flung over it, either way she was riding.

"Where to?" she tried again, but they simply stood waiting without answering. Surprisingly they did not even seem interested in finding Avi, or they did not know he existed. Either way it was a small blessing.

"Now Madam," it was as close to a snap as he could politely get. Julia grit her teeth and let herself be boosted.

The man whose horse she rode jumped up behind one of his peers, but not before he'd tied a line on her horses bridle. She resisted mentioning that since she had no idea where in the blue blazes she was, riding off in any direction would be beyond idiotic. Instead she accepted the water they offered her and drank deeply of it. Whatever faced her, good or bad, she needed to stay strong and hold onto the hope that Avi would come through for her and help would soon be on the way.


	10. Chapter 9

The interviews were harder than he thought, tales of horror and blood were hard enough to hear without the knowledge that Julia had been in the midst of it. Yet they filled him with a burning hope that grew brighter and hotter the more he questioned.

Not one of them had actually seen Julia during the attack, and none had seen her body.

"She said you would worry," the Matron said softly as he went back through his notes, it was mostly for show and to give himself time to think of more questions.

"Julia?" he asked looking at her with misery in his eyes, she reached over and grasped his hand.

"She didn't tell you about the Prince because she didn't want you to worry, I thought it was because you would demand she come home, but now…" she smiled sadly giving his hand a little pat before digging in her purse for a handkerchief, "she was right, you are indeed a good man."

Murdoch tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, "is there anything you can tell me about the attack, anything you can remember, even the smallest thing," he managed to croak out.

Betsy frowned and started to shake her head then, "during the attack the girls and I just kept our heads down and prayed," she sighed, "afterwards they rounded us up, and put us in cages," she frowned again at that, and Murdoch's instincts kicked into overdrive.

"What?" he prodded.

"It's nothing really, but they put us all into separate cages, and then the leader came and shouted something and they put Selma and Pamela into the same cage," she said, "I thought that was a strangely kind thing for that murdering fiend to do, Pamela was so upset and scared having Selma with her calmed her down."

"What did he do with the empty cage?" Murdoch asked, his heart suddenly beating faster.

Betsy blinked at him and shrugged, "I'm sure I don't know," she sniffed, "probably took it with him when he left."

"Left?" By this time Murdoch's head was hammering as loudly as his heart.

"Yes, he came and announced that we were to be moved to Dheli and ransomed, then he made us all write letters to our families to state that we were alive and told us that Julia had been killed," her voice broke at that and tears trickled down her cheek, "then he sent a dozen of his men with us and left with his caravan of murdering bandits."

Hope did not just burn through him, it exploded, ignited and just about made him spontaneously combust with it. Instincts honed over years of detective work told him that she was alive, his phenomenal brain working on the puzzles and clues he uncovered sorting, sifting and putting them together told him the same thing. But none of that came even close to the deepest, surest conviction that came from his heart, Julia was alive.

* * *

"Madam would please to put this on," the man riding beside her unwound a long cloth from his waist and handed it to her. Julia took it, the sun was burning down on her head, and she could feel her skin heating up, the blood stained pith helmet Xui's men had shoved on her head when they'd put the yoke around her neck was long gone, probably lying where she'd collapsed, and now while the temperature was slowly becoming less intense the higher they climbed, it was still too hot for her fair complexion.

She looked at it a moment in surprise, it was the finest silk she had ever seen, so sheer that she could actually see through it and yet it was surprisingly affective once she slipped it over her head, crossed it under her chin and flipped the ends over her shoulders.

"Thank you, it's very beautiful," she said and he grinned at her. The other men started all talking at once, but Julia found it almost impossible to understand them, she had barely gotten a smidgen of Hindi, this language was a little similar in some words but worlds apart in others.

"Jeet is to be …" he frowned trying to find the word, Julia looked at Jeet and smiled understanding.

"Married?" she offered, the leader nodded a slightly mischievous light in his eyes, "the lady will be war with him," he said and she blinked trying to work it out. He nodded to the scarf she wore and understanding dawned.

"She gave him this?" Julia asked pointing to the scarf, the men nodded jostling the poor very red faced Jeet. She started to remove it when all humor left his face and he looked distressed. The leader shook his head vehemently, "is gift," he struggled with the words a moment then sighed and looked at her hopefully.

Julia shook her head, she didn't understand any of it, why would these men obviously sent to capture her give her gifts, and for that matter why were they being so polite, and… well nice?

None of it made sense, they did not look like bandits and they acted like her own private body guards.

"I don't understand but thank you," she finally said shaking her head. The leader gave her a sympathetic look, then urging his horse faster moved ahead of her, leaving her with her own thoughts and fears again.

Julia ached in every bone in her body, her backside had long since gone numb and the men around her had to gently shake her awake a few times when she'd dozed off in the saddle. The air had cooled considerably and the sun was starting to make its way down over the mountains.

In the hours of riding she'd managed to get all their names, now Gopal, the leader, pulled up along side her, as they reached the top of the rise he pulled to a stop and pointed ahead. Julia looked up and caught her breath, it looked like something out of a fairy tale, the winding river, the deep rich valley that went on for miles, and cushioned in the midst like a jeweled crown was the Palace. Ancient beautifully crafted walls, turrets and towers, protected the inner buildings and temples. She'd never seen anything quite as glorious.

"It is magnificent," she breathed, and it was, so much so that despite the horrible circumstances of her plight she could not feel anything but pleasure at having seen it.

He grinned at her proudly, and urging his horse forward lead the way down the winding path to the long bridge that crossed the river.

A woman sat on an ornately decorated horse waiting for them on the other side, she wore the traditional long outer dress and pants, with a matching scarf wound around her head and over her shoulder. Her arms were filled almost to the elbows with jangling bangles, she even had them around her ankles. Golden chains ran from hair ornaments and wound around her ears holding up the heavy golden earrings. The men froze up as they neared, shock all over their faces.

She waved whatever they were going to say away and snapped something in their language at them that had them falling back behind Julia.

"I am sorry for the long journey Doctor, you must be very tired. If you will follow me I will see to your comfort." She said bringing up her horse beside Julia's. She spoke perfect English and as she got closer Julia could see she was not Indian.

"You know who I am?" Julia asked with a frown, the woman nodded and turning her horse urged her forward.

"I am sure you have many questions and equally many demands, I am sorry that I can neither answer your questions nor grant your demands, but I can offer you the comfort of a bath, fresh clothing and a safe place to rest for a little while," she said and preceded Julia through the massive ornate doorway into the palace.

Julia could not help gawking, it was so grandly magnificent there was nothing else to do but gawk. She lost count of the many doorways they passed, the outer barracks, the middle village, the main palace grounds and finally the inner sanctum. The courtyard was bustling with movement and color. The woman jumped off her horse and handed it to an ancient man that grinned toothlessly at her, she grinned back and bowed in respect as he muttered something to her.

The world tilted slightly as she tried to slide off her horse, and strong hands grasped her around the waist and lowered her to the ground. Jeet stepped back the minute she was steadier on her feet, bowing and saying something that sounded like an apology. The woman snapped at him and waved them all off, she clapped her hands twice, then put her arm around Julia's waist as an army of men and women dressed in all the colors of the rainbow came running from ever doorway.

"Who are you?" Julia muttered frowning down at the woman that propped her up with a strength belied by a tiny body.

"I am the Maharani, but you may call me Eudora and I will call you Julia," she stated firmly with a grin. Julia blinked, no wonder everyone was running around like mad chickens, the queen herself was half carrying her into the palace.

A very large woman with a days growth of beard on her face stepped in front of them her extremely large hands on her hips, disapproval not quite hiding the twinkling of laughter in her eyes.

"You are going to get all of us beaten, probably jailed, starved and then beaten some more," she snapped at her Queen.

"Yes, by me, now make yourself useful and help me get Doctor Ogden inside, those idiots made her ride mercilessly all day without rest or sustenance," she snapped. The big woman shook her head, winked at Julia and before Julia could do more than squeak, she was being lifted into powerful arms. It was as she came face to face with the woman's Adam's apple that she realized she was a he.

"Eunuch," he informed her softly, and she winced but relaxed a little.

The next two hours passed in an exhausted blur. Eudora and Nalini had her bathed, massaged, pampered, fed and clothed all while she dozed in an exhausted lethargy.

She was lying on a mound of pillows loving the feel of soft silk against her skin without the constriction of a corset. The long outer shirt was both beautiful and practical, it decorated and kept her cool and she'd always loved the practicality of trousers and these soft silk ones were a treat to her skin. Eudora had insisted she be dressed in the finest silks complete with adornments in her hair and ears.

"I'm sorry I don't have any western clothing for you," she sighed as she sipped the cooling mint tea. Julia snorted, then clapped a hand over her mouth in horror, while Eudora fell back into the cushions with peels of laughter.

"Not wearing a corset in this heat? Yes, I'm so disappointed," she drawled sarcastically, Eudora grinned.

The woman's quarters were not what she had expected a harem to be, there were no bars on the windows and doors, in fact there were no actual windows or doors, just massive archways and open spaces, draped with flowing silks and lace of such exquisite colors it turned the light filtering through them into flowing patterns of rainbows against the walls. And what walls they were, every nook and cranny on them and the ceiling was filled with breathtaking artwork in flowing patterns of swirls and waves, imprinted with gold and glittering stones.

It was rich and opulent, but all of it done with a style that fit perfectly, and it was most decidedly feminine.

She was exhausted, traumatized and she missed Murdoch so much it was like a permanent knife buried in her heart, every breath she took hurt. This wonderful woman's kindness was so unexpected that she could not stop the tears that started down her face. Eudora said something to the servants and they bustled out of the room instantly, she rose and sat beside her on the cushions handing her a handkerchief and gently rubbing her back as the tears turned into sobs.

"Let it out, let your tears wash away all the horror you have suffered," she murmured, a constant warm presence in the tide of misery that pulled her under. Vaguely she heard someone come in, and Eudora's snarled hiss but the gentle hand on her back never wavered. When the crying jag subsided and the last tremors passed, a cool cloth was pressed into her hands and she lay it on her face, letting the soft hands urge her back to rest.

"I'm a mess," Julia finally sighed, leaving the cloth over her eyes.

"Yes, but this too will pass," Eudora said and there was a smile in her voice, "sadly it must all too quickly, we have been summoned."

Julia dropped the cloth and frowned at her, "By?"

Eudora clapped her hands and rose, as people rushed back into the room, lead by a very terrorized Nalini.

"He's found out that you were outside the gates, oh my mistress he is angry," she wailed wringing her hands.

Eudora rolled her eyes "oh for heavens sake, you will scare Julia to death carrying on like that!" she snapped, "go get her a veil for her hair and some Jatamansi tea, go, go!" she shooed them away.

When the room had cleared she sank down beside Julia and took her hand, "you are going to meet the Maharaja," she gave Julia's hand a little squeeze, "it will all seem frightening and strange to you, and with good reason." She said her voice dropping to a whisper, "Vishnu is a good and honorable man, but he can not be that and keep his people safe," she urged, Julia shook her head in confusion and Eudora's lips tightened.

"I beg you to put your western pride aside, just for now," her eyes narrowed as she looked over Julia's shoulder.

"Do not antagonize Vishnu in front of his people, whatever he says, whatever transpires, keep your head and let him do the talking," she insisted. Julia frowned at her, pride pulling her spine up straighter, but Eudora grabbed her other hand too and there was so much strength and wisdom in those eyes she felt herself calm instantly.

"I will explain it all to you, but I am begging you to trust me, whatever happens know that I love and trust my husband and we both know neither love nor trust grows in tyranny."

The throne room was as glorious as the rest of the palace, but here it was almost overpowering in its opulence. The raised dais held a cushioned throne that was unlike any throne she'd ever seen before, it was almost like a small square four poster bed with a golden roof.

The man that knelt on that was as eye catching as the palace, his hawk like face and golden eyes were strikingly attractive, and yet there was an air of something hard and wild held tightly in check underneath the civil veneer. This was a man that would never hesitated at doing what he must to get what he wanted.

The spacious balcony they were in was only slightly higher than the throne, Julia found it beyond annoying having to watch everything through the sheer curtain that veiled the women in the balcony from everyone below, but she held her tongue.

A heated discussion was going on below, as an elderly man dressed in austere black was gesturing and almost shouting, his eyes constantly flying to the balcony and it was not a friendly look.

"That group over there dressed all in black are the temple priests, the man speaking now is the head of the temple," Eudora said softly.

"He is accusing the Maharaja of being derelict in his duty," she continued, "you have been labeled as an adulteress and a whore, and should either be put to death or handed over to the man who claims you," she grabbed Julia's arm holding her still when she would have protested.

"He demands that Vishnu do the correct thing and cleanse his house of your vile presence."

"What proof do you have of the crimes this woman is to have committed?" Vishnu's voice snapped like a whip, and Julia understood him because he spoke in Hindi, the thought that he knew she could understand him was perhaps the most frightening thing of all of this. The priest blanched and seemed to bow down in on himself a little, he pointed a gnarled finger at another man in brightly colored uniform.

"That is the emissary for Prince Hussein, he arrived about two hours before you did," Eudora continued, then she turned to look at Julia.

"He claims that you are Hussein's mistress, sold to him by your husband for the crime of adultery, a crime which is punishable by death here," she tightened her hand on Julia's arm, "Hussein has made some very frightening threats against my country if we do not hand you over to him, and he has also offered Vishnu a very tempting prize of land should he comply."

Julia sank into the chair behind her, "None of that is true."

Eudora put a hand on her head, "I believe you, but Vishnu has to be very careful here," she sighed, "he may be king, but with Afghanistan pushing us on the one side, and the British wanting to add us to their territories on the other we can not afford to have discourse inside our land, it would weaken us," she nodded to the priests, "they have influence over the people, if Vishnu does not silence him now things could go badly," she did not have to point out who they would go badly for.

This was their home and their lives, and the lives of their people, if even one person was harmed by her being here Julia knew the guilt would eat at her for the rest of her life, however short it was, because no matter how deep her love for William was she would die before she let Hussein defile her.

A woman stepped forward and Julia looked at Eudora in surprise, "I thought women were not permitted down there?" she whispered.

Eudora looked at her and shook her head, "women can, I can not," she sighed, nodding to the throne, "he is above them which is why he sits up there and as his wife I can not be below him, but I can also not sit beside him because he is a man and the King."

"We have no proof that this man is telling the truth, but we also have no proof that he lies," the woman also spoke in Hindi and stepped forward out of the crowd. She was a tall striking woman, her dark features very similar to the King's, they shared the same gold eyes.

"Is she his mother?" Julia asked, Eudora's face twisted into a mask of dislike and she shook her head.

"She is his father's sister, her son sits on Vishnu's right hand as his most trusted advisor, but he is as poisonous as his mother," she snarled.

The discussion was going on, more people had joined in, some for her and some against, and Vishnu sat silent, watching, waiting, not an expression on his face, until the priest spoke again.

"There is also the matter of your wife." He snapped looking around for support and finding only wary faces, Julia saw why, the King's face had gone icy with warning.

"I'm sorry but it must be addressed, she left the woman's quarters and rode outside the gates to meet an adulteress."

Julia watched fascinated as the man stubbornly continued to dig his own grave, even the members of his group had taken a step back, as if afraid to be in the firing line.

"She even now stands up there with the abomination," his voice had become high pitched his fanaticism rearing its ugly head.

"ENOUGH!"

A deathly silence fell over the entire room at the King's roar, when he rose from his throne they took a collective step back. And the elderly priest dropped to his knees.

"The Maharani is your Queen and the other half of me, you dare to question her? You dare to question me?"

By this time the elderly priest was trembling in terror, too late he'd realized his terrible mistake, incoherent words tumbled out of his mouth, but Vishnu ignored him as he stepped off the platform.

"Get him out of my sight," he snarled at the group of priests who scrambled to do his bidding.

"The English woman was being transported in a cage, by a known bandit. If any one of you can answer why Hussein would pay a bandit to carry her to him across Hindustan, our land and Afghanistan instead of having her delivered to his country by his own people, I will consider listening to your argument. Until then she will be our guest and we will treat her as such."

With that he turned, looked up at the balcony and nodded his head once before striding out of the room.

Julia turned to her friend, "is that good or bad?" she asked.

Eudora again took her hand, "good for me, not so good for you I'm afraid," she sighed, "I have been very lonely for a friend and I already think of you as one," she smiled a little but it faded, "but for you I am afraid it will be like being held prisoner in a golden cage, Vishnu will not contact your people until he is sure it will not cause an international incident that will harm his people."


	11. Chapter 10

Murdoch squinted into the sun, the path ahead seemed endless, just as the mountains they were heading for seemed never to get any closer. Malhotra rode up beside him, siting easily in the saddle, and yet Murdoch could just as easily see him on the back of an Elephant, he was completely comfortable in both the worlds he lived in, British and Indian.

"We need to stop for the night soon," the Professor said nodding towards the mountain range, "it is best we enter Vishnu's kingdom in daylight, he does not like visitors."

Murdoch nodded, "tell me about Vishnu," he demanded, "how has he kept his land from becoming part of the British Protectorate?"

"Ah, yes, Vishnu is an extremely clever man, some say with very little honor when it comes to protecting his country," Malhotra said and there was admiration in his voice.

"He plays a very dangerous game of balance to keep both the British and the Afghans from taking his country," he explained, "the Afghans know that the moment they attack Vishnu the British will step in, they might wait for Vishnu to loose and then march in and take over what's left of the Afghan army, but they will take over, they can not afford not to." He held up his tin flask of tea, the man was never without it, "the best tea and silks come from Vishnu's land, Britain would loose far too much in trade if the Afghan's took that over. And once they have defeated the Afghan army there will be very little stopping them from taking over the rest of Afghanistan. They've wanted a foothold in the Middle East for a very long time."

Murdoch frowned and reached for his water, "what is stopping the British from taking over now?" he asked before taking a sip.

"Vishnu has made it very clear if the British even start to move on his territory he will burn everything to the ground and give himself and his entire country over to the Afghanistan army without a fight," Malhotra grinned, "while the British are powerful, they are also spread very thin, the Boer's are keeping most of their army busy in South Africa so taking on Afghanistan would not insure a win, not unless Vishnu's army has softened them up first." He nodded to the massive mountain range in the distance, "that there is it's own defense, being almost surrounded by mountains any army wanting to attack would have to pass through some very narrow sections. A clever general would use that, and as I have said Vishnu is a very clever man."

Murdoch kept silent for a moment, absorbing what he'd learnt. They traveled a way ahead of their entourage, Lord Covington had not exaggerated when he said he was sending a Battalion to guard him, this trip had emptied nearly half the fort in Lahore, something the commander of that fort was not too happy about.

"How will Vishnu feel about them?" he finally asked nodding back to the rows of red coats. Malhotra winced and shrugged, "I am thinking not too well?" it never ceased to amaze him how seamlessly this man went from English Professor complete with flawless queen's English, to the singsong accent and grammar of his people.

Murdoch frowned, as if reading his thought Sergeant Higgins rode up beside him, a big gruff Irish man with shocking red hair and dancing blue eyes, he swore at his men regularly, threatened to shoot bits off them all the time, but every one of them knew he would lay his life down for them.

"We'll be wanting to stop on that flat bit over there, Sir," he said, nodding to an open spot of land only sporadically covered by shrubs.

Murdoch nodded and turned his horse towards it, he'd gone no further than a few feet when the smell hit him. It was part decomposition and part burnt meat, Higgins smelt it too and rode ahead, calling his men to halt. A small dip in the ground further along turned out to be a deep fire pit, piled with the charred ashes of what could only have been a funeral pyre, and judging by the size and of it a fairly large one, there were still scull fragments in the ashes.

"The last dignity for a fallen enemy, " Higgins muttered, then slid off his horse, he walked an ever-widening circle, pocking and prodding at the ground occasionally with his bayonet.

Finally when he came back his face was pensive, "a very bloody battle was fought here," he said pointing the area around them, "as far as I can make out the buggers we are following made camp here," he walked to a mound in the ground and dug around it, lifting it to reveal a tattered canvas that might once have been a tent.

"I think your kidnappers lost," he said nodding to the funeral ashes, "they would not have bothered to send the dead on their way like that, it shows a form of respect bloody murdering kidnappers would not bother with."

Murdoch jumped off his horse, he too started digging around, a mound of dirt caught his attention and he crouched by it, brushing the dirt off it he lifted a battered and dirty pith helmet. When he turned it over a very faint but familiar scent had his heart beating faster in his chest and lifting it closer to his nose. Flowers and woman. Julia.

A long golden hair tickled his nose and he gently tugged it loose from under the inner band. Right there in his hand was absolute proof that she was alive, his legs gave out and he flopped onto his backside in the dirt holding the helmet to his chest as if it were the most precious thing he'd ever seen.

* * *

The King's private quarters were as impressive as the throne room, and as male as Eudora's quarters had been female. Eudora did not wait to be ushered in, she gave the guards at the door one long look of warning and sailed past them through the doorway, Julia's hand clutched in the queen's she was tugged along like a wayward child, not that she minded right now, she was completely out of her element.

"Dora," his voice turned soft and gentle as he strode to his wife and took her hand, forcing her to release her grip on Julia. Vishnu was even more striking close up. Though right now his full attention was on the little figure of his wife, Julia did not fool herself for a moment into believing that he was not very aware of her every move.

"We will deal with you leaving the safety of the palace later, in private," he growled and there was a warning in his eyes as he took her elbow and gently urged her towards a very western set of chairs. Eudora winced but there was no fear in her face, only a very definite heat that made Julia drop her gaze once again feeling like a voyeur.

When the Vishnu had settled his wife comfortably he turned to face Julia, indicating that she should sit. Julia debated defying what was very much a silent order, but she was tired and scared and sooner or later her legs were going to give out on her anyway so she sank into the chair.

"So Doctor Julia Ogden, how is it you came to be in my land in such bad company?" he asked her settling next to his wife, she did not miss the way his hand brushed over Eudora's arm, or the way he leaned closer to her.

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

"A question to a question, since I am the king I fear you will have to answer mine first," he shifted slightly as Eudora moved closer, it was not quite a cuddle but as close as two people could get without actually touching.

"My party was attacked, and I was brought here," she answered shortly; if the man knew who she was he must also know how she got here. He studied her for a moment and she studied him back and realized that while he would do anything to make his wife happy, even keep her new friend in the palace despite the grumbles of his advisors, the moment he decided the risk became too great he would send her off without a shred of shame or guilt. Eudora loved him, she would love him no matter what he did because she trusted him completely.

"Very well, it appears we will both have to give a little," he sighed, "I make it a policy to keep up with all the news. A group of Doctors abducted is big news even in India, when one of those Doctors is the god daughter of the District Commissioner, it becomes even bigger news," he reached down and tossed a newspaper onto the table before her. She could not read Sanskrit but the photo of her group taken as they came off the ship was unmistakable.

"Though according to that you are dead?" he made it sound like a question and Julia was a little confused as to what her answer should be, since she was sitting here, her not being dead should be self-explanatory.

"As you can see I am alive," she answered frowning. Vishnu blinked at her a moment then threw back his head and laughed. Eudora snickered beside him.

"I am sorry, Doctor, of course you are not dead, but why would they go to all the trouble of making you appear so? It is very difficult for kidnappers to collect ransom on a corpse."

"The man Xui works for knows I am alive, he just wanted to make sure no one would look for me," she said.

"I do not understand why, Hussein is a crown prince, he's gone so far as to use his father's connections with the Emir of Afghanistan to threaten war on me just to get his hands on you?" He raised his hand in apology, "I do not mean that as an insult, you are very beautiful and I am sure a very good doctor, but for him to do this without even having met you?" he shook his head.

"I have met him," she said not taking offense, "we traveled on the same ship from England and I rejected his advances, his bribes, his threats and even an attempt to kidnap me from my bed. Your Majesty the only reason this man is determined to have me is because he is a spoiled child who has never been refused anything," she snarled, the rage brewing inside her spilling forth, "he orchestrated my abduction and the cold blooded murder of over twenty people and now he calls me an abomination. That man is evil and he deserves to be hanged by the neck until he is dead."

Eudora rose and came to her, gently trying to get her back into her seat, Julia had not realized in her anger that she'd shot to her feet.

The King waved at something behind her and Julia winced as she turned and saw the guards looking very worried. They nodded to their King and left the room giving her a narrow eyed look of warning.

"I fear you are correct, but that does not help your case," he murmured, "if he finds proof that you are his property then I will hand you over to him," he did not apologize for it but she saw the distaste in his eyes.

Whatever her answer would have been was stolen by the hair-raising screams that echoed from deeper in the palace. Julia did not miss the King's first instinct was to pull Eudora back from the door and shove her towards another door, when she frowned and struggled he snarled something to her in a language that while familiar Julia did not understand.

Eudora snapped back at him but headed for the doorway, beckoning to Julia.

Julia frowned, her fear warring with her need to follow her calling, in the end fear did not stand a chance, she was a doctor someone screaming meant someone hurting.

The screaming was joined by shouting, and it came closer Julia sidestepped the hand Vishnu threw out to hold her back and made it to the door before him.

"Witch! Demon! What have you done to us?" the woman screamed at Julia, hatred and fear turning her face into a twisted mask. Vishnu stepped out from behind Julia and snarled a command, the woman fell to the ground, words tumbling out of her mouth.

"The harem has been blighted with a curse," Eudora translated behind her, Vishnu swung around and snapped at her but Eudora gave him a defiant look and ignored him.

"Where?" Julia demanded and the woman looked up at her, "I am a doctor, a healer, not a witch and certainly not a demon, now stop being a fool and show me where," Julia stepped forward grasped the woman's arm and dragged her to her feet.

"Her name is Salina," Eudora said and started forward, Julia threw up her hand halting the Maharani in her tracks, she looked at Vishnu and he nodded and moved up behind his wife sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her back against him.

"I have no idea how contagious this is, your majesties I must insist you stay away until I tell you otherwise," she ordered, and giving the wide-eyed Salina a shove sent her stumbling in the direction of the wailing.

"Send me your healer," she called over her shoulder.

Salina took her through a few doorways, her wary eyes shifting to her every now and again, the confusion in them evident.

Julia heard the crying and retching seconds before she smelt it, vomit and misery. She walked in bracing herself for what she knew she would face, so many people, women and children curled up in little balls. She went from one to the other, checking, questioning.

Something about the scent of the vomit was familiar but it was a fleeting thought, as she went looking for the patients in the worst condition. Two were already gone, blood dripping from the lips as the convulsions had clenched every muscle in their bodies right up to death. She pulled the sheets over those and moved onto the next.

"I need bath tubs, ice water and I need the healer." She demanded again a young woman with long hair and a white sari moved up beside her.

"I am the midwife and the healer," she said softly and Julia turned to her, "we need something to sooth their bodies and a large place filled with ice water to put them all in, their muscles are starting to cramp but we need to bring the fever down, if they go into convulsions it's too late," she said trying with hand gestures to make her meaning clear in a language that she barely spoke. The healer nodded and rushed to do her bidding, dragging the still whimpering Salina with her.

She got to work. Salina and a few of the less skittish servants brought in large copper tubs and filled them with cold water. It was a nightmare putting the children in there, they were the worst not able to understand that what they were doing was to save their lives they screamed and fought. The only comfort was that their symptoms were not as severe as the adults and the tea soothed them faster.

Despite her best efforts she lost another two women and she knew there was only one thing she could do.

"I have cooked pots of tea and mixed a soothing balm that I hope will help," Eudora said from behind her.

Julia swung around, "did I not ask you to stay away from here? In fact did your husband, the King," Julia emphasized just incase that little point had escaped Eudora, "not demand that you stay away from here?" she snapped.

Eudora rolled her eyes and snarled back, "my kingdom, my people, my home. You can both order all you want, it does not mean I have to obey."

With that Julia sighed and slumped, to be honest she needed the woman's help for what she was about to ask.

"I need to perform an autopsy," she said with a wince, the local's already called her a witch and a demon, lord only knows what they will say when she starts cutting up dead bodies, but without knowing what was going on inside them she could not say what was killing them.

Eudora narrowed her eyes but nodded, "I will get Vishnu's permission" she looked around at the courtyard, the small fountain in the center had been filled with cold water and ice and the worst of the inflicted brought out and submerged in it.

"But not here," she said and nodded to the others, "get them comfortable, and choose which one of the dead you need. I will come for you," she sighed, looking tired and pale. Julia did not think it was fear of her husband's anger.

Vishnu lead her down a long winding set of stairs, as light and airy as the palace was above, this part was dark and damp. Julia shuddered and refused to touch the wall, the smell of mold, age, and a faint smell of death made her want to turn and rush back up the stairs but she couldn't because the hulking guard carrying the still warm wrapped body was right behind her, she could feel his disapproving glare burning a hole in her back.

At the bottom Vishnu's guards lit the oil lamps and she got a good look around, she was in the dungeons. Filled with bars, cages, shackles and a lot of sharp horrid contraptions she did not want to know the use of. The only blessing was all of it was covered in dust and cobwebs, which meant it had not been used in a very long time.

"I will need more light," she said as he told the guard to put the body on a long table with shackles attached to all four corners. The guard placed the body down gently, glaring at her again but went to do as bid.

"They do not understand what you are about Doctor, my people consider a body sacred even more so after death," he sighed, then nodding to another guard who stepped forward and handed her a very battered and damaged bag, it took her a moment to recognize it as hers.

"Jeet got that back from one of Gopal's men, he'd found it on one of the bandits that took you," he said and Julia took it, opening it gingerly she remembered the last time one of her bags had taken a bashing and did not reach inside without looking first.

Her surgical instrument box was still intact and she pulled it out shaking the broken glass off it. Footsteps echoed and more lamps were brought around her until she literally stood in the center of a circle of light. Vishnu snapped an order and the guards around him shifted uncomfortably but did not move, he turned and glared at them.

"They won't leave you alone down here with me," she said guessing what he'd wanted, "they think I am an evil demon intent on murdering everyone," she said with only a small touch of snap in her voice.

Vishnu's face went dark with rage, but before he could let it loose a light set of footsteps brought his attention to the doorway as Eudora stepped through it.

"Are you incapable of obeying one single order I give you?" he asked, his voice gentle and softly spoken, but even the guards winced at the whiplash of anger behind it. Eudora frowned at him and completely unafraid stepped up to him reached up and brushed a gentle hand down his face, from his forehead to his neck.

"Calm yourself beloved, I too fear for your safety, and yet here you are. I imagine no orders in the world would make you stay locked in your quarters? Why then do you expect from me what is impossible from yourself?"

Vishnu reached grabbed her hand and gave her a quick hard kiss, the Guards turned all shades of red and studied the floor diligently. While displays of affection were frowned on by Victorian society, they were not even half as bashful about it as these people.

Julia cleared her throat delicately and both monarchs turned to her with equal frowns, "I'm sorry but would one of you please explain to the guards what I am about to do and why, I have no desire to be shot or worse, burnt as a witch."

Vishnu turned his wife around and gave her a little shove towards the stairway, "out, this is going to get ugly and there is no reason for you to see it," he ordered.

Julia could see Eudora was not going to listen, "I need you to check on my patients, please" she added and Eudora turned a narrow eyed look at her but nodded and headed up the stairs.

Vishnu was talking to his guards, and by the grayish color of their faces she could tell he was giving them a graphic detail of an autopsy, how he would know the details of an autopsy was a question she would ask him another time, maybe never.

She did not need to very far into the autopsy before she recognized cause of death and her head shot up.

"Poison, it's poison your majesty!" she said, then her eyes shot to the stairs, "Eudora, you must stop her from feeding the sick tea, she must not eat or drink anything until I can test it first." She was shouting to his back because he was already halfway up the stairs his guards behind him, it appeared the word poison was universal in every language.

She closed the Y incision as quickly as she could and draping the body she shoved everything back into her bag and followed up the stairs.

She hoped her bottle of iodine had survived the trip because it was the only way she could test for the poison.

The minute she stepped into the women's quarters Eudora was at her side, fury turning her face almost purple and her dark eyes flared with fire.

"Poison?" she hissed, "Who would dare?"

Julia shrugged putting her bag down on the nearest table and carefully emptying the contents, "I don't know, finding out the what is what I do, finding out the whom and the why is what Murdoch does," she murmured.

"Murdoch?" Eudora frowned; Julia turned her bag over and carefully shook out all the glass bits. Her little bottle of iodine had indeed survived.

"I need opium." She stated abstractly as she lay out the contents of her bag, checking seals and bottles for cracks.

"What?" Eudora's frown got even deeper, "Julia!" she eventually snapped it and Julia jumped and blinked at her.

"I'm sorry, William Murdoch is a detective in the Toronto police department," she said hesitating a moment, then shook her head, "he is also my husband, and I need opium, lots of it, my bottle of laudanum broke."

She went back to the contents of her bag, she was pulling out a long hollow needle and some rubber tubing, when she noticed Eudora still had not moved.

"Your majesty I need that opium or an opium based medicine like Laudanum," she tried not to snap, then realized how it all sounded and rolled her eyes, "they were poisoned with Belladonna, which is an alkali based poison, opium will counteract that and with lots of fluids we should be able to flush what's left out of their system, but we must hurry."

Eudora nodded and dashed off shouting orders as she went, "you will explain more to me about this Detective Murdoch when we have time Julia," she called over her shoulder and Julia winced.

It took them three exhausting days of alternating between getting eleven women and children high on opium and purging all the poison out of their bodies, two of the older women had to have an infusion of fluids directly into their bodies, something she had only read about but never tried. However her memory served her well and she managed to save them both.

All that time Eudora stayed at her side, working with her through the worst of it tirelessly. Vishnu came every evening looking tired and worried, he moved from patient to patient talking with all of them, and trying to convince his stubborn wife to rest.

On the fourth day, Eudora pulled Julia into the outer passage, her face pale with fear. "Hussein is here, he's brought a contract with him, which apparently your husband signed," she said softly. Julia's heart thumped in her throat.

"You must come," she said dragging her by the arm through the palace, only this time she did not take her to the balcony but slipped her own veil over Julia's head and shoved her past the guard through a small doorway.

Julia found herself in the throne room, with all eyes on her, and none of them friendly. Whispers started around her, words like witch and demon, adulteress and whore. She pulled herself up tall and straight, gifting them all with an icy stare.

"Who allows this creature into our midst," the voice came from further back, and the Kings head shot up in that direction, his eyes narrowed.

"Doctor Ogden has done nothing to be so labeled. Step forward and show yourself!" he demanded, no one moved.

"Only a coward speaks without face," he snarled, then turned to Julia.

"You have been claimed by Prince Hussein of Persia by right of a contract of sale with your husband, what do you say to this?" he asked.

"A lie, your majesty, I was never sold to anyone," she stated clearly.

"I protest Vishnu, I have the contract signed by her husband," Hussein stepped forward and Julia shuddered. By any standards he was handsome, smooth and sleek, with the dark eyes and pale coffee skin of his people, but every time she saw him she felt as if a slimy layer of dark oily evil surrounded her, trying to engulf her.

"Show me this contract," Vishnu demanded, a servant carried it up the small staircase to his throne and bowing almost doubled over as he handed it to his king, before sliding backwards down the stairs.

Vishnu nodded her closer, and Julia moved up to the throne, "this appears a standard contract," he said then looked down at her with a gleam in his eyes, "it is however a fraudulent one." He said looking up at Hussein with cold fury on his face.

"You insult me!" Hussein snarled, but Vishnu ignored him turning to look at Julia.

"No, you insult her," he murmured, "Doctor Ogden only recently married, so recently that she has not changed her name," he stated then held out the document clearly signed Ogden, "Doctor what is your husband's name?"

Julia took a breath to answer, when the back doors were flung open and an armed guard escorted a dirty and disheveled Murdoch into the room.

"Murdoch your majesty, and I can assure you my wife is not for sale!"


	12. Chapter 11

Julia was already in motion as he spoke, she flew across the room and into his arms, an ocean of emotions crashing over her as he held her so tight her ribs groaned. She didn't care if they cracked, she was never letting him go again.

"William." She whispered, her cheek pressed to his neck.

Murdoch held her to him his face buried in her hair inhaling the scent of her. Feeling Julia pressed against him was his own personal miracle and he lost himself in the bliss only she could bring him to.

For endless moments the world faded around them, there was just them in their own private bubble of ecstasy.

"Julia." He sighed, pulling back a little to see her tear streaked face, cupping it in both his hands.

"Julia." It was a prayer, a benediction, an oath and an endearment all at the same time. Julia's eyes closed and let all the pain and fear slide back as his strength and courage poured through her, her world once again became as it should be.

A sense of danger had Murdoch looking up and he held Julia's head against his shoulder, wrapping his arms around her both protectively and possessively as he noticed the guards surrounding them. His eyes met Vishnu's across the room and an unspoken warning passed between them. He held her tighter.

"I have sorry lady Doctor," Jeet murmured from behind Murdoch, Julia looked up and frowned, her friend looked pale and very upset.

"You must release," he said, nodding to the guards.

"He was caught inside the women's quarters." Vishnu's voice silenced the hissing mutters of the people around them.

Julia felt her world shift upside down again and she held onto Murdoch with all her might, shaking her head as terror raced through her like an electric charge.

"No!" she cried out. Murdoch said nothing the calm acceptance in his face killed her a little more, he'd broken their law and he of all people could not fight that. She pulled back as far as he would allow her and turned a little to face Vishnu.

"Please, he was looking for me." She was ready to beg, pride had no chance against Murdoch's life and she would get on her knees before all of these people and plead if it would help.

"No man but the king may enter the women's quarters," Vishnu said and shook his head sadly, she could hear regret in his voice, "to be caught even trying is an instant death penalty. No trial, no jury and no excuses. The safety of our families is sacrosanct."

"You cannot make an exception here majesty," Shraddha, the only other woman on the floor stated coldly, and Julia could see the vicious glee in her eyes as Vishnu's aunt looked at them. "He must be executed, or we will never be safe again."

"He is a detective," Eudora's voice called from the balcony and all eyes turned to her, she'd flung back the curtain and was leaning forward, Vishnu blinked up at his wife, "we need to find out who tried to poison us, husband," she said, "who better to do that than a detective?"

Vishnu's eyes narrowed, voices hissed and grumbled across the room, none dared to call out but there was a very clear feeling of discontent.

"I will think on this," Vishnu said waving everyone out, Shraddha, his aunt, stepped forward as if she would argue, but a cold look from him silenced her and she turned and left. The last one out of the room was Hussein and the smug look he gave Julia was enough to make her want to knife him the heart.

"An apartment will be prepared for you in the married quarters, but I am afraid I will have to place a guard at the door, and while you may come and go as you please Doctor, your husband may not," Vishnu said rubbing his temple.

"Your majesty…" Julia started but Vishnu threw up a hand halting her words.

"I don't want to kill your husband any more than you want me to, but the law is the law and even I cannot break it," he said.

"Not break it, but bend it a little my love?" Eudora said as she stepped into the room to stand beside Julia.

Vishnu sighed again and looked exasperated at his wife, "what do you have in mind Dora?" he asked.

"Indentured servitude," she said, Julia gasped and shook her head but Murdoch tightened his grip around her waist and pulled her back.

"Delay his execution for a month, if he solves the mystery within that month, he can choose a lifetime of service to you or die." Eudora looked at Julia a small shake of her head warning her not to speak out.

"I will think on it," Vishnu said and rose from the throne stepped down and left the room taking his guards with him, but she knew they would be outside the door.

Murdoch had been silent throughout and as Julia rounded on Eudora now he raised a calming hand to her shoulder.

"It will be alright," he whispered in her ear, but she ignored it.

"I thought we were friends!" she hissed at Eudora, and the queen faced her, a head shorter but still every inch a Queen, Julia could feel her royalist backbone bend just a little.

"We are, and if I had not spoken your husband would be dead," she snapped, then flung out a hand to silence the words as Julia would have retorted, and Murdoch's eyebrows rose in reluctant admiration. It was seldom that anyone could silence his wife when she was enraged.

"I have bought you both time, time to do what must be done, and perhaps find an alternative exit." She hissed it under her breath looking around and for Julia sudden understanding dawned.

Escape, once Murdoch gave his word to Vishnu she knew he would never break it, but up until then he was free to try, and having to solve the mystery would provide the perfect opportunity to move around the palace looking for a way out.

"Three months," Murdoch said over their shoulders, Julia did not need to turn to see Vishnu walking towards them, she could see by the light in Eudora's eyes that he was near.

Vishnu moved up beside his wife, though he did not touch her, the heat between them was almost tangible, "It will take you that long to solve a crime?" he asked and there was a knowing look on his face, he knew exactly what they were up to.

"It will take me that long to learn enough of the language to understand your court's politics," Murdoch replied.

"It will cost us. Shraddha and her followers will demand blood and they will use this as a sign of weakness," Vishnu sighed, "but even they do not want the British banging on my door, and your little army camped in the canyons can prove useful," he said and Murdoch winced.

"I have asked them to leave but I'm told I don't give the orders," Murdoch said apologetically. What he did not tell them was that Higgins and Malhotra had given him four days to get into the palace find his wife and get out or they would be banging on the door themselves.

"Yes, well I suggest you send word to them that all is well for now, because if they come onto my land I will consider it an act of aggression." Vishnu warned, then turning headed towards the door and lead them out of the throne room, the guards outside were looking very edgy until he gave them a glowering frown. They followed very closely as the little group made its way to yet another wing of the palace.

"This is the visitors wing," he stepped through a set of massive double doors, and Julia noticed three things, the first was it was on the other side of the palace the farthest point away from the King's apartment and the harem, the second was that it had doors and window shutters, though they were open at the moment she could see they could be closed in an instant and the third was that all the outer doors and windows could be locked from the outside.

"What kind of visitors?" Murdoch asked, and she realized he'd not missed it either.

"Visiting dignitaries, ambassadors," Vishnu replied as he led them up a large staircase, "not all of them come in peace, the doors and windows are to protect us, not to entrap our guests." He stated.

At the top was another set of doors and he threw them open to show an open passage with a winding latticework staircase leading down into a stunningly beautiful English garden complete with pavilion, tiny labyrinth and fountain. The passage they stood in curved all the way around that garden completely circling it. Wide open floors with canopies over head and open archways showed stunningly decorated rooms, and another set of stairs running up to the flat roof.

"Staff is being assigned to you, and I am sure you will wish to set up some sort of laboratory and surgery Doctor, whatever you need just ask the servants, they will get word to me," Vishnu nodded to them once and turned to leave, stopping at the door to wait for Eudora.

"I will call on you tomorrow?" she asked Julia warily, Julia sighed and nodded, she could not quite manage a smile.

Eudora seemed to understand and with a nod to Murdoch and a barked order at the guards followed her husband out.

Now that they were more or less alone, Julia felt nerves clutch her stomach into a knot, memories of fat sweaty hands grabbing her, the terrible smell of garlic and old sweat as she fought, the horror of realizing what was going to happen and the sickening terror of knowing she was trapped, came rushing back in a wave of ugly fear and she took a step back fighting back the nausea.

William let her go, his hands sliding off her waist, waiting, watching, sensing that touching her right then would upset her more.

"Julia," he sighed, clenching his hands at his side when they ached to touch her. She shook her head a moment and turning headed down the stairs, he was never more than a step behind her.

Finally in the pavilion she stopped and stood gazing at the fountain. Murdoch went to the bench and sat, trying to find the words he knew she needed to hear.

"I love you," he said softly, "I think I have always been in love with you, I just didn't know it at first," he began, watching her, he could see he had her attention in the little tilt of her head.

"But I realized it first when you told me of your abortion, and your reasons for it," he continued watching her as she turned her head a little.

"I thought you had been violated, and that was the reason you would not carry the child, and the thought of you going through something like that, of hurting like that was a horror that I had never felt before, I was relieved when you told me that was not the reason." He stopped, fighting for the right words, it was so hard for him to articulate all the churning emotions going on inside him, but for her he would always find a way.

"I am a deeply religious man Julia, the very idea of an abortion for any reason should be abhorrent to me, and for a while I convinced myself that it was, but the truth is, I love you, and nothing you do or is done to you will ever change that." He said it simply, not a promise and not an oath, just a fact as sure as the sky and the earth.

When she turned to face him, he rose and waited as she stepped into his arms and put her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too," she sighed, and he held her tight.

The memories did not stand a chance, this was William, kind, gentle, strong and stubborn. Often awkward and socially clumsy, but with a heart that beat pure and true. She knew he would wait, while his body ached for her, he would wait, forever if he had to, and if she wanted to talk he would listen, he would hold her, and he would never make her feel she was in any way lacking.

A crunch followed by a whispered curse had her head shooting up trying to find the source of the scraping sound that followed.

Murdoch shook his head and keeping a warm hand on her back stepped with her out of the pavilion. Another curse, more scraping and a figure appeared very briefly on the flat roof before it ducked down behind the small baluster. Julia's heart leapt with joy and she would have run up those stairs if Murdoch hand not grasped her waist.

"We don't know who is watching," he whispered his lips close to her ear, and despite the situation a delicious shiver ran down her spine, "Avi will find his own way down," he turned her around until she was pressed up against him again, this time there was nothing comforting about his embrace, it was heat, a slowly sizzling fire that started an ache deep inside her.

"Let's go explore our new home," he said louder, Julia sighed a little when he stepped back, but she was anxious to see Avi and make sure he was well, so she took his offered hand and let him lead her to the first set of doors.

The first thing that struck her was the very western furniture that should have looked out of place, but didn't, not that she was paying overmuch attention to the surroundings. Now that the memories had loosened their hold on her, she felt the ever growing hum of desire that William evoked in her just by breathing.

He kept touching her, some part of him was in constant contact with her. A hand on her back, her hand in his, his arm around her waist, when they walked into the study she stopped and gaped and he moved up behind her, brushing against the length of her body.

She trembled and bit back a moan, her entire body felt feverish, her blood aflame, Murdoch stepped back instantly, and she mourned the feel of him.

"I'm finding it hard not to…" he hesitated moving up beside her, studying her face, what he saw there must have pleased him because he reached out and ran his knuckles down her cheek, "touch you, want you, be near you," he murmured nuzzling her ear.

"If I do anything that scares you or even makes you uncomfortable, promise me you will tell me?" he asked his other hand sliding up her back as he pulled her closer.

Julia could barely think, understanding words was becoming impossible, she grabbed him by the waist and tugged him against her, running her hand up his shirt and around his neck. She could feel how much he wanted her and it made her lower body clench and throb.

"Julia?" it was a gasp, a groan and a question all at the same time.

"Do I cough or go out and make noise with feet?" came the voice from under the desk.

"Avi!" Julia tore out of Murdoch's grasp, oblivious to the tortured moan he gave, and ran around the desk. When Avi stood up grinning at her she grabbed him up a bone crushing hug. Murdoch could see from the startled delight on Avi's face that he was not used to this kind of affection and from the utter adoration in his eyes Julia had yet another conquest.

"Thank you thank you!" she whispered in his ear, and Avi pulled back frowning.

"No thank you, I did not go to find your Detective, he come to me," he told her shaking his head. Julia blinked at him in surprise as she stepped back.

"I don't understand." She murmured.

Avi shrugged, "is not hard, I follow you, I see you not get killed, I go to find British like you ask and find them where I started," he grinned at her, "your husband find me hiding in bushes, when I hear red coat call him Murdoch I remember."

She rolled her eyes put her hands on her hips and glared at the young man, "You followed us? After I made it very clear you were to keep your head down and stay safe?" her voice started to rise and the cocky smile slid right off Avi's face, he looked a little like a cornered puppy, "I did everything I could to keep you out of sight, I went with them willingly so that you could get away, and you go waltzing off behind us! What if they had caught you?" she was close to shrieking now and Murdoch decided to take pity on the man, he stepped closer to Julia and gently placed a hand on her arm.

"He did exactly what you would have done," he reminded her gently.

She rounded on him next, her face was flushed in fury, her hands on her tiny hips. The soft silky outfit she was wearing made her seem smaller, without all the petticoats and corsets she normally wore she looked so much more fragile, and yet she still had a spine of pure steel.

"Oh really? And you? Standing there and letting them put a death penalty on your head without uttering a word in your defense?" She stepped out from behind the desk, "you are not going to solve this mystery Murdoch, in fact we are taking whatever rope or ladder or long rope of hair that Avi used to get into this palace and we are leaving." With that she turned and marched towards the door, realized she had absolutely no idea where she was going and turned a warning snarl at them.

Murdoch sighed, it was going to be a very long night, and for him very likely a cold one. He'd already agreed to do what he could to help, his honor demanded he keep his word. Though judging by the look in Julia's eyes she'd say to hell with his honor, his life meant more.

"You know I cannot Julia," he muttered eyeing Avi's retreating back as the coward slipped into the next room.

Julia marched back to where he stood and poked him in the chest, "you can and you will William Murdoch." She hissed. William put his arms around her and pulled her against him, trapping that bruising finger between them.

"They are your friends Julia, you don't really want to walk away knowing someone is trying to kill them?" He made it a question but it was more a statement, his lips so close to hers she found herself battling to remember they were even having a conversation never mind what it was about.

"You distract me," she muttered, leaning in for the kiss she craved. Murdoch groaned once and brushed his lips against hers, testing, teasing, she wound her arms around his neck and clutched at his hair. Her tongue slipped out and dipped into his mouth, and what little control he had snapped completely, the kiss deepened, becoming hot, wet and wild.

Murdoch lifted her and put her on the desk, sliding between her legs, his hands almost bruising in desperation as he tried to touch all of her at once. The silk slid across her skin, and she arched against him, her knees parting as she pulled him to her.

"Stomp stomp! I am making feet noises, very loud," Avi called out from just outside the door, he coughed a few times just to make sure they heard him.

Murdoch pulled back, his hands sliding to her hips as he stepped back and gently eased her off the desk. They were both breathing hard.

He took her hands in both of his and rested his forehead against hers, "his timing is becoming quite annoying," he murmured to her and Julia sighed nodding vigorously, nearly head butting Murdoch in the process.

"My timing good, people coming, their timing to blame," Avi smirked as he scurried past them back to his hiding place under the desk. Julia and Murdoch stepped further apart as the sound of footsteps approaching alerted them that they were no longer alone.

Jeet came to the door, his bright gaze filled with friendly understanding, "I sorry," he said not looking sorry at all, "Maharaja wished I speak you," he searched for the English, then shrugged and broke into Hindi, "Prince Hussein has left the palace under escort," he told her, "Gopal will make sure he is far from the palace and cannot trouble you again."

Julia nodded and thanked him, he gave a shallow bow and headed back out, at the door he turned and grinned, "I am very sorry but many servants will be coming any minute," he told them with a very obvious wink, then turned and dashed off.

Murdoch turned a questioning eyebrow at her, "I mostly understood that Hussein has been evicted forcefully but I don't understand the wink," he said.

Julia grinned and waggled her eyebrows up and down, "he thinks you were about to have your wicked way with me."

"He not wrong," Avi snorted as he rose from behind the desk.

"Indeed. Avi I need you to carry a message to Sergeant Higgins," he said turning to the desk.

Julia moved a little further away from them, looking out into the courtyard, she'd not really expected Murdoch to cut and run, but she had hoped. Now she just prayed that they could find a way to solve the mystery and escape before Murdoch was bound to live here forever.


	13. Chapter 12

Surprisingly Salina was one of the people who volunteered to join Julia's staff, and even more surprising was realizing how many had joined her.

As the rooms and courtyard filled with people busy from gardening to polishing the floors, Julia was whisked up the stairs into what could only be described as a fairy princess's bedroom. Every shade of pink imaginable was in that room, it was completely overwhelming.

"Is this the only bedroom?" she asked wincing as they flung back the four-posters bedcover to reveal extreme pink cotton sheets.

Salina frowned, "this is the Memsahib's rooms? Sahib's room is through the connecting door," she waved towards a break in the wall decoration. Julia moved over to it ignoring Salina's indignant splutters and the shocked giggles of the women preparing the huge copper bath.

She frowned at it a moment then pushed it open, there was a small narrow passage and another door, which she barged through.

Murdoch stood in center of the room, a bath sheet slung low around his hips and water dripping from his wet hair. She stood frozen watching the droplets run through the soft hair on his chest, lower, lower…

"Julia?" His voice was husky, her mouth had gone so dry she had to swallow twice before she could form words.

"I hate pink." She stated firmly, trying to get her eyes to stop devouring him.

Movement down the passage behind her snapped her out of it and she turned, gave Salina and the two women heading for her a very sharp smile and firmly shut the door in their faces.

"Mine," she hissed, as she threw the bolt to lock the door. When she turned back to Murdoch he was watching her with a predatory smile.

"What a shame, it happens to be my favorite color on you," he said softly.

Julia blinked then frowned, "I don't wear pink," she snarled, the green viper of jealousy uncoiling in her belly.

Murdoch's eyes burned with heat as he moved closer grabbed her hips and pulled her hard against him.

"Now that is just not true Doctor Ogden," he said sternly, Julia's scowl deepened as she tried to push him away, but he would not budge.

"You must be thinking of someone else," she said between clenched teeth, visions of Anna Fulford in pink making her jaw ache.

"I am thinking of no one but you wife, I have thought of no one but you for many years, and I will think of no one but you until the day I'm put to rest," he said reaching forward and nipped at her bottom lip.

Julia melted against him, winding her arms around his neck. Murdoch lifted her with a strength that always surprised her, and tossed her onto the bed. He stood looking at her sprawled on the plush gold and green covers and caught his breath.

Her hair spread around her, a shimmering golden cloud, the deep blue silk of her kameez, outlining her body in perfect detail and the aroused fire burning in her eyes made something primitive and lethal rise up in him.

"Take off your clothes," he ordered harshly, overwhelmed with a savage need to posses her so completely that he could never loose her again.

Julia rose to her knees, her little chin jutted forward in stubborn defiance, her hands on her hips, "orders Detective?" she demanded, "you do remember I never promised to obey?" there was a dark thrill running through her expressive eyes, and Murdoch felt what little control he had left slipping even further out of reach.

He reached out, grabbed the silk tunic and whipped it over her head before she could do more than gasp. Her hair flew in a wild mess over her face and she muttered very unladylike curses as she shoved at it. Murdoch did not give her time to recover, with a none too gentle shove, he sent her sprawling backwards on the bed. She was still trying to catch her breath when he had the silk salwar pants off her too.

"Now let me show you all the shades of pink I love on you," he murmured as he crawled up her body like a sleek predator.

Julia nearly swallowed her tongue. He settled beside her, taking her hands in his and firmly pulled them over her head, cuffed them in one hand while his other hand cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing her lips urging her to open.

"This particular shade of pink is one of my favorite," he murmured, slipping his thumb inside her mouth, "it's a changing kaleidoscope of pinks," he groaned when her tongue circled his thumb, "pale light pink like this," he swooped down and took her mouth, exploring and tasting, claiming.

The kiss went on and on, while she writhed under his grip on her hands, "and now a deep rose almost red," he said as he pulled back his thumb brushing once over the kiss swollen bottom lip, before his hand lifted and his fingers continued the journey along her chin, and down to her neck.

"Then there is this part here," he touched her neck brushing it with his fingertips and then his tongue, "I love watching the pink move up over here, especially when I tell you how much I want to be inside you right now," he whispered reaching up and running his mouth down her neck to her collarbone.

Julia lost all ability to think, all she could do was feel as he worshiped her body.

"How much I crave the taste of you night and day," he murmured still moving down, "and there is this here, such a perfect glorious pink," his tongue flicked out over her nipple and she arched up, "ahh now look, your whole body is getting that pink glow, it lets me know how much you enjoy what I'm doing," he smiled against her skin, and she tried to focus on him but when his teeth nipped at her other nipple she could not stop her eyes from rolling up in ecstasy.

With a typical single minded determination, William licked, bit and tweaked her breasts until she was writhing on the bed, her legs mindlessly scissoring as she tried to ease the ache between them.

"William!" it was a groan, a demand and a plea all rolled into one and he lifted his head to look into her flushed face, she tugged her hands out from under his and grabbed his shoulders, pulling at him.

When her leg slid over his hip, the last of his will broke and he moved between her thighs, surging up and into her in one powerful thrust that pulled a keening wail from her lips.

He tried to go slow, to savor and but she was a flame beneath him, searing his control, he drove her up the first peak, grasping her face in his hands as he shoved her over it, watching her eyes go blind as the pleasure took her.

"Again!" he demanded his voice rough and horse. He was lost in her, her scent, jazmin and woman, her sound, breathless little moans and cries, her feel, warm silk, her body surging and trembling beneath him, and her eyes glazed and lost in pleasure. When she slid her legs up and around him, and his name escaped her lips in a long husky moan, it shot him over the edge and he let loose a growl as he shot them both over the peak.

While his body still strummed and shuddered, a tsunami of emotions crashed over him and he buried his face in her hair, wrapping his arms around her.

"I thought you were gone," it was a broken whisper, he lifted his head and she could see the utter despair in his eyes, it shook her to the core.

"I'm not though, you found me," she whispered, trying to sooth him. Murdoch shook his head, "I won't loose you again, I know I promised you freedom, but I can not ever go through this again." He said firmly. Julia smiled and kissed him, if freedom meant being without him, then she didn't want it.

They spent hours wrapped up in each other, whispered words of love and need between cries of passion, until the world went dark, and their exhausted bodies demanded sustenance.

Julia moved away from him and grimaced when her skin, sticky with passion and other things, pulled against his. "I don't suppose we have a bathing room here?" she sighed, and Murdoch grinned at her expression as he described how his bath had consisted of two buckets of icy water from a water pump in the back courtyard, a bail big enough for him to stand in, a bar of spicy scented soap and a servant more than happy to empty both the buckets over his head.

"I hope Salina left my bath in the room, " she muttered and wriggled off the bed, looking around for something to cover herself with. She didn't even blush when she looked back at a very naked Murdoch stretched out on the bed, and realized they had not even made it under the covers.

His bath sheet lay in a damp heap on the floor and she slipped that around her and went to the dividing door. A peak through it showed the small passage was empty, and the other bedroom too. Even more surprising was the soft candle light flickering on the dresser, and the massive tray ladened with crispy flat bread, a white goats cheese, all kinds of different fruits and two glasses of some sort of orange juice. Her bath was still there too, though the water had become tepid. Julia dropped the sheet and was about to gingerly step into it when Murdoch walked through the door, still naked with a very wicked grin on his face, he scooped her up and stepped with her into the water.

Laughter woke her the next morning, and she slid a hand out, only to find the other side of the bed empty. Frowning she sat up, and looked around, she was in Murdoch's bed, but aside from the indention of his head on the pillow, he was not there.

More giggles and a deeper pitched laughter that she recognized brought her out of the bed and to the window.

The scene below made her heart ache, Murdoch had half the children in the palace running under a contraption that looked vaguely familiar. Copper pipes ran from the water pump to a barrel balanced over a flame, and more pipes ran up off the barrel with another smaller pump that one of the guards was pumping like crazy. Water was shooting out into a bucket hung on a hook from an awning, and a shower of water flowed out of the holes punched into the bottom. But what made the whole thing even more surreal was the King of the realm was at that moment siting on the low wall, a giggling servant hanging washing behind him and his face wreathed in laughter, watching his queen dancing with half a dozen half naked children through the spray.

Murdoch looked up from his tinkering with one of the pipes and gave her that sweet smile she knew was reserved just for her. She understood in that instant, that whatever happened in the future even if they were stuck here for the rest of their lives, it would still be a life filled with joy, because he was with her.

"Julia, you did not mention that your husband was a brilliant inventor," Eudora called up, at the same time the woman that had just been hanging up washing now rushed to cover her with a huge bath sheet.

"We've had very little time for chatter your majesty," she called back. Vishnu rose and moved to Eudora, absently tucking the sheet closer around her.

"I have forgone the morning audiences in the great hall for the day, but we would enjoy your company for breakfast in our private quarters," he said to them, then in typical royal fashion, did not wait for an answer but gently steered his wife out of the courtyard.

A soft knock on the dividing doors brought Julia back into the room, "Your bath is ready," Salina called from the doorway, Julia wrapped the sheet she'd pulled off the bed tighter around her and followed her with all the dignity she could muster.

The Maharaja's private quarters was yet another surprise, she expected to be brought to the room he'd first seen her in, but apparently that was a room reserved for outside visits.

Now Jeet took them to another section of the palace, much like the visitors quarters it was a completely separate part of the palace. It was then that she realized the vastness of this magical place, like a jeweled setting, the palace was built in layers, sections and parts, all of them separate but joined, with the very center of it being the harem, and the sheer magnitude of it was breathtaking.

Plush Moroccan couches, hand knotted Persian rugs, ancient tapestries and treasures from all around the world graced every nook and cranny, while the walls gleamed with frescoes of life size scenes.

She grasped Murdoch's hand tighter as the sheer wonder of it made her want to stand and gape. He squeezed her hand and tugged her along. Murdoch would stop and study a new invention for hours, but ask him to describe a painting or a work of art and he was stumped.

They were lead through a small sitting room, and Julia could instantly see Eudora's hand in the decorations, massive deep pillows strewn around a very low table, deep carpets piled on top of the next, there were large golden urns, with exotic peacock feathers, and flowers of all colors that gave the room a wonderfully springtime smell, when they stepped onto the long terrace that smell followed them.

Eudora jumped up from the wrought iron chair she was sitting on and ran over to them, grabbing Julia's hand, the sheer joy on her face was impossible to resist.

"I have ordered the kitchen to prepare a proper English breakfast," she said, and Julia did not have the heart to remind her that neither she nor Murdoch were English.

Murdoch blinked when Vishnu offered his hand in greeting, not knowing how he was supposed to respond he took it and shook it, "I don't spend much time with Royalty," he said, but Vishnu shook his head and waved that off.

"In public I am what I am, and I must have absolute respect, but here in our home we are Dodo and Vishnu," he grinned when Eudora growled at him.

"Sit, eat, I am fascinated to hear more of these fantastic inventions you have created," he said leaning forward in anticipation. It wasn't long before Vishnu had Murdoch fully engrossed in a discussion on the various uses of a combustion engine.

"I am sorry for this," Eudora said softly watching the men, Julia frowned at her and raised a questioning brow, "they could have been friends," she said turning to Julia, "because of who he is and what he must do Vishnu will forever be alone, he will never know what it is to have a true friend, someone who he can trust. I think your husband would have been that friend for him if circumstances had been different for both of them."

Julia thought about that for a moment, and it saddened her to realize that were it not for some incredible people in his life the same could have been be said for Murdoch, "he has you?" she said.

Annoyance moved across Eudora's face, "because of who I am I will never be anything more than his wife, and in this world if I do not produce a child soon, probably not his only wife."

Julia jerked back, her gaze shot from Eudora to Vishnu and back, "because you are a woman?" she asked.

"Because she is foolish," Vishnu snapped, turning to his wife with fire in his eyes. Both woman jumped a little, he'd been in such deep conversation with Murdoch they had been sure he could not have heard them, apparently being King meant dividing your attention equally.

"I may be foolish, but you still need an heir," she snarled back.

"What I need is for you to stop obsessing about it. It will happen or it will not, but I will never take another wife," he said then turned to Julia, "she thinks because she is a Greek merchants daughter it makes her unworthy to be a queen, but she is mistaken," he sighed, taking his wife's hand and dropping a soft kiss on the palm, "she is and will remain my best friend and partner in all things."

"Who gets the throne if you die?" Murdoch asked with a frown, and Julia could see him slip seamlessly from William the husband to Murdoch the Detective.

"The priests will decide, since I have no brothers or sons, Shraddha's son Paresh should be in the running, but he is not my only cousin, there is also Gopal and Jeet," he said.

"But are they not your guards?" Julia asked confused, Vishnu's smile was just a little bit sad when he answered.

"Yes, Gopal and Jeet are my fathers half sisters children, from one of my Grandsire's lesser wives," he shrugged.

"Lesser wives?" Julia's voice got higher as she said it, and Murdoch winced and placed a warning hand on her arm. In indignant rage Julia was quite capable speaking her mind very loudly, this time it could get her killed.

Vishnu's sigh and Eudora's chuckle eased his fears, and he relaxed back a little, "yes, lesser wives, as I have explained to Dora when she informed me how demeaning that term was, I simply have no other way to describe the seventeen wives my grandsire had that were not my grandmother or her sister who was also his wife. Between the two of them they provided my Grandfather with eight daughters, and two sons. His other wives had another twelve children, only three of them sons," Vishnu said and Julia gaped at him, "sadly an epidemic killed nearly all of the children and a majority of the wives including my grandmother," he shook his head, "my father was the only surviving male child, and the only reason he survived was because he was with my grandfather on a hunting expedition at the time."

Murdoch frowned, "what sort of epidemic?"

Vishnu shrugged also frowning, "there are very little details on that time, afterwards the palace was closed for nearly ten years. My grandfather never fully recovered from the loss. He moved what was left of the family to our other home in Dehli. The palace remained closed up until my father moved in as King."

Eudora took his hand, and they exchanged a look, "Shraddha says this palace is cursed, and she will tell you stories that will make you believe that," she said, "but I don't believe in curses, witchcraft or voodoo. I do believe that someone tried to kill us, and judging by the look on your faces I imagine you think this is not the first time."

"Until I know more I can not judge what happened in the past, but belladonna does not grow indigenous to this part of the world so there is no way it could have accidentally found its way into whatever they ingested. I will need to walk around the palace to make sure though," Murdoch looked at Julia, but she could see his mind was already on the case.

"And since I can not get to the scene of the crime I will need to figure out another way."

Vishnu frowned, "I can have all the furniture and that entire section brought out, but I think that will not help you," he sighed.

"What about photographs?" Eudora asked and Murdoch's eyebrows shot up, "We may be out of the way here but we are not out of touch," she grinned.

"I will need extremely detailed photographs, and I need a blackboard…" he frowned, then carried on with a grocery list of things he would need that had Vishnu and Eudora scrambling for something to write it all down with.

Julia gave a happy sigh, this was Murdoch at his finest and for her at his sexiest, his amazing mind at work was a wonder to watch.

"I can not imagine what you want with copper tubing, and an arc welding machine. But I imagine the lenses are to build some sort of telescope?" Vishnu asked frowning down at the list.

"You don't really believe that Hussein has given up, do you?" Murdoch asked quietly, taking Julia's hand in his.

Vishnu winced and shook his head, "No, I think he has gone to gather an army, and his next move will be to attack here, though I imagine he will not get the reception he is expecting from Nasrullah Khan, the shahzada of Afghanistan," he stated, "I sent him a message informing him of the Prince's conduct, Mohammedans think very badly of adulterers, and even less of wife stealers." Vishnu indicated the mountain range behind them, "he would have to gather his army at home in Persia and march them through Afghanistan, which they would consider an act of war, and what the Afghan army does not finish off will have to move through some very narrow mountain ranges to get to us. Determined he may be, but Hussein loves his own skin too much to risk it to such an extent."

Murdoch's frown did not lessen, "that may be, but what I have in mind will be an advanced warning on anything coming through those mountains."

Vishnu shrugged his shoulders, "You misunderstand Detective, I will of course supply you with anything you need as promised, I simply wanted to assure you and your lady that you are both safe," he said.

Murdoch did not answer, but he knew Hussein would not give up, the man's pride was at stake, and he'd already proved that nothing would stand in the was of him getting what he wanted. Julia.


	14. Chapter 13

_I fell in love with Eudora and Vishnu from the moment they walked onto my page, so much so that I could not resist exploring their back story just a little. It does however have a purpose which will be revealed, eventually :D_

* * *

"I find this offensive," Shraddha snarled as she prowled the room. Murdoch had to give Vishnu credit, for someone who had probably never been in an interrogation room he'd managed to set this one up perfectly.

It must have taken an army of servants to clean and restore the dungeon to its former glory, minus all the torture equipment.

Aside from the cell's, there was what had been a guards room, and another three rooms whose purpose Murdoch did not want to know, but the grey stone walls were stained very dark in places and he had a feeling that if he had his black light here they would glow with old blood.

Now even being in one of those rooms made a cold chill run up his spine, and judging by the twitching and nervous pacing, Shraddha was feeling even more affected by it.

"Never the less, you have been ordered by your king to answer my questions," Murdoch stated, "Now I ask you again, where were you four days ago?"

"I had nothing to do with what made those people sick," she said throwing up her hands, "I was in my residence outside of the palace," she turned and sank into the chair opposite Murdoch, "you look in the wrong place Detective, but I am not surprised Vishnu sent you after me, better to keep your attention away from himself." She hissed leaning forward.

Murdoch blinked at her a moment, "you are implying Vishnu himself poisoned women and children?" he asked incredulously.

Shraddha looked behind her in fear, before leaning closer to him, "That wife of his can not bear him children, and yet his cousins have many sons. If Vishnu does not produce an heir the church elders will demand that he either abdicate for one of his cousins or get another wife. It does not take a genius to figure out that if he did not poison them then it was the Greek witch he married." She shook her head, then made a funny sign with her hands, Murdoch knew it was to ward off the evil eye, "his grandmother was a witch, it was her evil that poisoned all the children in the palace, she and her twin sister were forever cooking remedies and treatments, witchcraft all of it. My mother swore Kamalika was a demon, and Kamalini her familiar and she died first because of it."

"If we section off each part of the rooms affected, the school room, play room, nursery and courtyard, we should be able to get many photographs that can make one big one?" Eudora suggested as she and Julia eyed the task Murdoch had set them.

The first person to show signs of illness had been one of the younger Ayahs, and she had been in the courtyard. Julia managed to track the order of the poisoning by the severity of the symptoms and from talking to the survivors, she listed them along with where they were when they succumbed.

She knew Murdoch would need that for his murder board, sadly she had not taken a sample of the stomach contents when she'd done her autopsy, and now the remains of all the dead had been properly burned as was the custom.

"Let's start with the nursery, and move on from there to end in the courtyard," she said.

The task should have been made easier by Eudora's entourage but when it became obvious that Eudora's group of ladies in waiting were getting under foot, she sent them out with an annoyed snarl that had them scattering in all directions. Julia bit the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing, Eudora was tiny, she was like a small porcelain doll, bouncing dark curls and big onyx eyes, and yet people scampered away from her as if she were a giant.

"They can be like pretty decorative birds at times, lovely to look at but annoying first thing in the morning when they chirp outside your window." She said with a grin, then turned to look at the heavy camera box on its three legged tripod and grimaced, "they can however be useful at carrying things," she sighed hefting it up and staggering across to the next section Julia had marked out.

"I'm sorry if I'm being forward your majesty, but I simply must ask," Julia hesitated, then decided to dive in, "how did a greek merchants daughter find herself married to a King?"

Eudora chuckled, adjusted the camera a moment then clicked the shutter, "you can ask, and I might answer, on one condition," she murmured eyeing Julia, "you start calling me Eudora, or Dora whichever you prefer, but if I hear one more majesty out of you I am going to have you flogged." She said it with a sweet smile. Julia blinked at her a moment trying to decide if she was serious.

"Very well Eudora," she said carefully.

Eudora shook her head and sighed, "you look at me as if you really expect me to have you dragged out of here and beaten. Really Julia, have you seen me make good on even one of my many threats?"

Julia winced and shook her head, she moved a few feet away and marked the next section for Eudora to photograph, "not yet," she muttered under her breath, and Eudora threw back her head and laughed.

They worked seamlessly together, Julia marking the photograph parameters with chalk and Eudora setting up the camera and shooting the pictures, while Eudora told her story.

"My father is a trade merchant. He bought supplies here, and traded them in Greece, then he bought more supplies there and traded them here. It worked out very profitable for him and I lived six months of the year here, and the other half in Greece."

"And your mother?" Julia asked imagining a little Eudora, all big eyes and chubby cheeks, she did of course not mention that to the queen.

"Mama died giving birth to me. Papa raised me as he would a boy, and I was left to my own devices far more than any normal girl would be, either in Greece or here," she shrugged, "I met Vishnu when I was five and he was eight," the smile on her face was wistful as she remembered, "I hated him on sight," she laughed.

"Even at that age he was destined to be King, a heavy burden on such a young boy, the result was taking himself far too seriously. A more bossy and arrogant person has never been born," she gave her an evil smile so filled with mischief Julia had to laugh, "all his supposed friends were far too afraid to tell him just how impossible he was, so it fell to me to inform his horribleness that he was a spoiled bully and I was more than happy to take him down a peg or ten," she snickered, and Julia could just picture a young Vishnu trying to keep his kingly dignity while a little ragamuffin tore strips off him a mile wide.

"He got his revenge," Dora sighed shaking her head, "by becoming my best friend. We became inseparable while I was here, and his father allowed it. Perhaps thinking Vish was learning how the other half lived and that it would give him a deeper understanding of his people."

They had moved on to the little courtyard and Julia was so engrossed in her story she completely forgot what she was doing. Leaning against the small burbling fountain as she pictured the young Vishnu and Eudora playing in just this spot, a laughter filled game of chase, or hide and seek in the many little nooks and carnies the open archways and flowing curtains offered.

"It was the happiest time of my life," the voice came from behind her and Julia nearly landed in the fountain as Vishnu approached, Eudora grabbed her arm and steadied her. The little woman was surprisingly strong.

"Mine too," she said softly, eyes only for her husband. Vishnu came closer and his arm slid around her waist, and though he did not kiss her, the look they exchanged was hotter than a mere kiss could be.

"Sadly childhood ends far too quickly," he sighed, bumping his forehead against hers gently in what was obviously a very well worn sign of affection between them.

"I reached maturity, received my Janeu," he grinned at Julia's frown of confusion, and pulling his shirt aside showed her threads running down from his shoulder to what looked like across his body, "right of passage, they also shaved my head," he said and Eudora winced, "Dodo hated it so much she refused to be seen with me until it grew out a little."

Eudora stamped on his foot, and he winced and growled at her, the arm around her waist tightened as he lifted her up until she was eye level with him, he hissed something to her in what Julia now recognized as being Greek, which she thankfully did not speak considering the blush that moved up the queens face.

"Should I leave?" she asked finally, and they both had the grace to looks sheepish as he lowered Eudora back to the ground and stepped back a little.

"I knew by the time I was ten that I was in love with Dora, and I also knew that I could never marry her, my since I was already engaged to someone else. My marriage had been arranged when I was still in the crib," he said softly, and Eudora reached up and brushed her hand over his face.

"So young?" Julia knew the Indian custom of arranged marriages, and though this was the new century it was still a very common practice among the gentry in the western world too, but to have your life mapped out for you long before you had even lived it was for her barbaric. Some of what she was feeling must have shown in her face because Eudora's eyes narrowed and she leant forward.

"Do not judge Julia, arranged marriages are a very serious thing here. They are very carefully planned, taking into account all the elements of both families, background, cast and the partners themselves, it is why eighty percent of arranged marriages are happy unions. They work a lot better than a lot of love matches. First love passion is wonderful but if you can not respect your partner in life then the fire burns out very quickly and all you are left with is ashes and regrets."

Julia winced and gave a little prayer of gratitude to any deity that might be listening, the words "_there but for the grace of Murdoch, go I,_ ran through her mind. Though her engagement to Darcy had not been filled with fiery passion, she had convinced herself she could be in love with him because he was handsome and brilliant. A marriage between them could only have ended in disaster. She had always and could forever only love one man.

"I'm sorry, it was a knee jerk reaction, please continue with your story it is fascinating," she begged, and Eudora smiled at her.

"I didn't even think about love or marriage until the summer I turned fifteen. I returned here so very uncomfortable in my new body, and here was this beautiful, tall, man, no longer the gangly boy I played with," She rested her head on his chest a moment, "my friend had changed so much. Suddenly he was spending all of his time studying, and none with me. He avoided me the entire six months I was here." She said her face a little sad as she remembered.

"It was torture," he groaned remembering, "I could not be near her and not want to touch her, so I stayed as far away from her as I could."

"I spent my time with other friends in the village, and the year after that I begged my father to let me stay with my aunts in Greece." Eudora moved them away from the fountain and to a set of deep cane chairs.

"Every time she left I counted down the days until she would come back. Despite the torture I had to see her, to know she was near. When her father arrived and she was not with him I went a little mad." Vishnu pulled a chair closer to his wife and settled in it, Julia had the feeling if she had not been there he would have pulled her onto his lap.

"I got myself into so much trouble that summer my father decided I needed to learn some discipline and sent me to Oxford. It did not help with missing Dora, but it did give me a freedom I had never known." Vishnu grinned, and Julia could see just what kind of hell the young playboy prince had gotten up to. Eudora growled but said nothing and Vishnu's grin became even more devilish.

"On my twentieth birthday my father sent me and four of my aunts on a trip around Europe, it was in the guise of a gift holiday but chaperoning us was a distant cousin of my fathers and his son," Eudora's smile became pure evil, while Vishnu's face lost all mirth and became thunderous.

"Stavros was rich, came from a good family and even better our union would give my father control of most of the Asian trade," Eudora continued, then leaning forward, "and he was very handsome," she faux whispered, Vishnu stiffened and his hands tightened on the arms of his chair.

Julia had a feeling the chair would have to be replaced if Eudora continued with her very dangerous game. He hissed something in Greek and Eudora blushed crimson. Julia did not need to speak Greek to know what he'd threatened her with and cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"When I heard from home that Dora was in England I went to see her," his voice still thick with emotion and Eudora settled back stroking a hand over his arm, play aside she was completely in love with her husband and he with her.

"When he met Stavros he nearly called him out to a duel, I could not understand it. I knew Vishnu could never be mine, much as that pained me I did not see why he would not be happy for me to find a good husband," Eudora sighed, shaking her head.

"I walked into that hotel suit and he was there, with Eudora," he snarled, and Eudora rolled her eyes.

"You make it sound as if we were doing something immoral, we were chaperoned by three of my aunts and his father," she snapped.

"He was touching you!" Vishnu roared and rose from the chair, taking a good size piece of the arm with him. Julia winced and sank down a little.

"He was holding my hand!" Eudora roared back, jumping up and standing toe to toe with him. Julia debated trying to sneak past them and out of the war zone, but realized she was enjoying the show far too much to leave.

"Just for interests sake, how long ago was this?" she asked blandly. Vishnu put his hand on Eudora's face and gently shoved her back into her chair with an exasperated laugh, she grinned up at him and they shared a look of mutual adoration.

"Ten years ago," Vishnu said tossing the broken chair aside and lifting his wife up settled on her chair with her on his lap.

Julia blinked, that they were still this passionate with each other a decade later was amazingly comforting and a little worrying.

As a doctor she knew that this much fire should have left them with a brood of children, that there was not even one meant something was wrong.

"He tossed Stavros and his father out as if they were nothing," she sighed remembering and cuddling into his arms, "I was very afraid of what my father would do," she said.

"I knew exactly what he would do, as soon as he got there he would drag her back home and somehow make the marriage go on," Vishnu stated resting his chin on her head, "so we eloped."

It sounded so romantic that Julia's softer side wanted to sigh at the romance of it, but she was a practical woman and she knew that there would have been very harsh repercussions from their actions.

"Your father?" she asked Vishnu, Eudora curled her hand through his, offering comfort.

"He died before I could tell him," Vishnu said, "I imagine it would not have gone well at all, were it not for a series of terrible events."

"Events?" Julia asked, Vishnu shook his head and gently easing Eudora off his lap rose to his feet.

"Eudora will have to fill you in on that later, I have a few matters of state to see to," abruptly he kissed his wife's hand, nodded to Julia and strode out of the room.

Both women watched him leave, then Eudora turned to Julia sadness quickly shuttered in her eyes.

"I have told you my story, now you dear Julia will have to tell me yours," Eudora said, then eyed the camera and sighed, "but not today, your husband will be very angry with us if we do not get these photographs done,"


	15. Chapter 14

"Don't you think that is romantic William?" Julia sighed as she pulled the brush through her hair. She'd spent the last twenty minutes giving him the rundown of Vishnu and Eudora's story, while she'd fussed at the dressing table.

"You had the opportunity to question them on important matters pertaining to the case, and you waste your time with fluff," he scolded, not looking up from the photographs he was sorting.

"Oh I'm sorry I did not realise I'd been demoted to Constable," she snarled back, Murdoch shook his head, studying each photograph carefully.

"Of course not, you'd make a terrible Constable," he said absently, and some instinct made him look up just in time to duck as the ornate silver hairbrush flew past where his head had been.

"You are a Bovine!" she hissed, stomping to the dividing door, "Goodnight!" as she slammed the door closed.

Murdoch frowned at the shuddering door as if it had the answers to Julia's sudden explosion, since it didn't, he went back to studying the photographs.

There was nothing in them that gave him even a hint of why the victims were chosen or where the poison was administered. He studied the list Julia had given him a moment, then gathering it all together he took it to the small study set up as an office. The desk was already cluttered with papers, and bits and bobs of materials he was working on. Most of it was made up of a rough triangular frame he was putting together. He lifted it and frowned at it a moment, turning it this way and that.

"I see you have settled in here well,"

Murdoch jerked and turned to Vishnu, the king stood leaning against the doorjamb, his usual gold and jewel embroidered robes replaced by the long white kurta tunic and dhoti.

"Some," he said warily, casually settling the frame down and lifting the photographs, "I did not hear you approach," he said, with a frown as he eyed the massive school blackboard leaning against the book case.

"No you would not have, and rest assured I will honor your privacy as I do my own, but there is something I want to show you," Vishnu said absently moving up next to Murdoch, they both eyed the board and the pile of photographs with a frown.

"I don't suppose you know where the kitchen is…?" Murdoch asked, and Vishnu turned to look at him with a wicked grin.

"Of course, you cannot learn the very dangerous art of stealing sweet dumplings without knowing where to find them." He said deadpan.

Despite Vishnu's confidence it took them nearly an hour to find the kitchen, and another half to find the food store. Vishnu watched, fascinated as Murdoch stoked up the ever burning cook fire and added flour to water turning it into a thick sticky substance.

"I interviewed Shraddha today," Murdoch stated as he poured the mixture into a small ceramic pot, "she said that the priests could force you to abdicate?" he looked up at Vishnu, the king cocked his head to one side.

"I'm sure that is not all she said," Vishnu sighed, pulling a mango out of the hanging basked above him, "she probably blamed the poisoning on me, or Dora, and I'm sure she mentioned the fact that my grandmother was a witch," he peeled the succulent fruit, unmindful of the juice running down his hand.

"To answer your question, no. I am the Maharajah, I was born into this title, no one can force me to abdicate, not even the priests." He said taking a small knife and slicing off a bit of fruit, "but they have done it once before so I imagine they probably think they can again," he offered Murdoch the slice.

Murdoch narrowed his eyes at it a moment, he'd never eaten mango before, there were a lot of things he'd never done before and perhaps it was time to give in to temptation. When he slipped the fruit into his mouth, the taste exploded on his tongue and he could not stop the groan of delight from escaping his throat. Vishnu chuckled moving over to a large dresser he took down a metal bowl and sliced the rest of the mango into it.

Their trek back to Murdoch's study was made in silence as Murdoch consumed the succulent fruit, and Vishnu carried the ceramic pot of home-made glue.

"You said you had something to show me?" Murdoch said finally as they painstakingly glued the pictures onto the black board.

Vishnu adjusted the angle of one of the photograph frowning at it, "yes, but first I must tell you a little of the history on this part of the palace," he murmured, moving one picture and replacing it with another. They were trying to recreate the rooms with the photographs, "this section has not always been the guest apartments. It used to be where the King kept his more…" he hesitated then and winced a little, "special subjects," he finished carefully.

Murdoch frowned at him, "I thought you practiced polygamy?"

Vishnu shook his head, "we are permitted more than one wife, however we are not permitted to visit women married to someone else," he said, "not even the King may break that law."

"Which brings me to the priests," Vishnu stood back and studied the board, the pictures were direct windows into each room, and between them Vishnu had chalked in passageways, doorways and windows not shown.

"The reason you did not hear me come, and there were not a dozen guards following us to and from the kitchens, is that there are secret passages running from the king's quarters to here. My distant ancestor with the married woman mistress gave her husband these apartments for just that reason. Unfortunately the husband in question was the General of my ancestors army, and much loved by all his men, when he caught them in the act," Vishnu shook his head "the priests were brought in and they demanded he abdicate. With the army against him, he had the choice of getting assassinated, or running."

He moved towards the door, "I don't need to poison women and children Detective Murdoch, I can have them thrown out of the palace, I could even have them thrown off the mountain if I so choose. Everyone in this palace, even the priests, lives by my will," in the instant he spoke his demeanor changed completely, in the blink of an eye Vishnu was gone and the Maharaja stood in his place, cold, illusive and powerful. Murdoch believed him completely, this was not a man who turned away from the hard tasks, if he wanted someone dead he would do it openly, and probably with his own hand.

"Yes your majesty." Murdoch nodded his head as close as he could get to an actual bow without being awkward. Vishnu nodded and left. Murdoch stood for a full two seconds before he realized Vishnu had not shown him where the passage was.

Julia's bedroom was dark as he stepped through the door, the candle he carried cast a flickering light over the small lump in the bed.

The white tunic and soft roomy drawstring cotton trousers he wore as pajamas were incredibly comfortable, and he admitted to being glad who ever had placed the outfit out on his bed had not given him the long skirt like pants the locals wore. He blew out the candle, placed the holder on the small bedside table and slid under the covers. The moment he reached out and touched Julia she shot upright in the bed, and even with the very poor light from the half moon outside the window, he could tell she was still very annoyed.

"Your bed is in the other room William," she informed him coldly.

William sighed, and sitting up too, slid an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, "hush now," he whispered as she stiffened and tried to pull away, he settled back against the pillows holding her unyielding body against him.

"My bed may be there, but my wife is here and I swore if I found her alive I would never be parted from her again," he sighed into her hair.

"I am an ox sometimes Julia, and I often say the wrong things, but you know that you are the most important thing in the world to me, and if I am tense and short with you, it is only because I want you safe and home," he rested his head back against the pillows, Julia settled against him.

"Silly man, home is wherever you are William," she said as she lay across his chest and cupped his face in her hands. She kissed him softly, but the minute her lips touched his fire blazed between them and the kiss became a hot slide of mouths and tongues. She wound around him like a warm living blanket of woman and heat, and as he slid into her she rippled around him and he lost himself to her completely.

* * *

Agonizing screams brought both of them out of sleep, and he thanked god that he'd slipped back into his sleepwear some time during the night as he dove out the bed, "stay here!" he ordered Julia as she scrambled for her clothing.

Murdoch reached his bedroom and stopped dead at the doorway, his heart thumping in his chest in fear, the little maid lay on the ground curled around her hand still screaming hoarsely, but it was the long thick black cobra that stood before him, its massive diamond head eye level with him that had him holding his breath. He could hear Julia coming behind him and prayed she would not try to slip past him.

He should have known better, his wife was defiant and often reckless, but she was not a fool. She gently touched his back, and leant forward whispered in his ear, "do not move, I will get help," she said and he felt her slip back along the passage.

The cobra bobbed towards him and Murdoch shifted to the side, but it had only been faking and as it swayed he realized that it was hunting him now.

"Sway with it," a voice ordered softly from inside his room, and Murdoch did as ordered trying to match the creatures rhythm. It seemed to work, as the snake's movements slowed and became hypnotic. He could see Avi moving to his bed but he dared not take his eyes off the snake for longer than a second.

The heavy bed cover flattened the snake as it landed over its head, and Avi quickly gathered the whipping coils into the blankets folds and tied the whole lot together with a cord yanked from the four poster bed. He had just enough time to hand Murdoch the heavy sack and dive behind him into Julia's room as the first guard slammed through the room's outer door, Julia right behind him. She gave her husband one quick glance over, then ran to the now ominously silent girl.

Her eyes met Murdoch's and she shook her head sadly, the woman was gone.

Murdoch handed the snake to the guard, who held it as far away from himself as he could, "keep that somewhere, it's evidence and I will want to examine it." He told the guard in broken Urdu. The guard nodded and left the room just as Vishnu and his guards arrived.

Vishnu knelt beside Julia, "I'm sorry, the poison worked so quickly she was gone before I got here," Julia told him as she gently covered the woman in a sheet pulled from the bed. Vishnu nodded and rose.

"Detective?" he made it a question as he moved up beside Murdoch.

Murdoch had his eyes on the bed, with the covers gone, and the sheet pulled off too he could see that something had been lying in the bed, the indention in the sheet still obvious.

"I'm no expert on snakes, but how often do you have them crawling into your beds here?" he asked the King, Vishnu shook his head.

"None that I know of," Vishnu said, "do you know what kind of snake it was?" he asked.

"King Cobra, about ten foot long," Murdoch said, and Vishnu's eyes narrowed, "I was going out of my mind thinking about Julia in the hands of bandits, so I studied everything I could about India, the ship had a very extensive library," he murmured.

"Well, they are not indigenous to this part," Vishnu said flatly, "and from what I know of them, cobras need heat, even if one had found its way into the palace, it would have found a warm place to curl up in," he hesitated.

"It was put here deliberately," Murdoch finished for him.

Julia moved up beside them her eyes large with worry, "do you think Hussein is trying to kill William?" she asked, but Vishnu shook his head.

"Not like this," he said, "this is too subtle. If he'd gotten someone into the palace he would have tried for you Doctor," there was something more in his face, and Murdoch narrowed his eyes but the quick warning head shake from the King silenced him.

"This is something more, something else," Murdoch's mind went into overdrive, he muttered something, moved towards the door, changed his mind and went back to Julia grasping her by the arms and practically lifting her off her feet.

"Go to the Queen. Stay there until I send word it is safe to …" he never got to finish because Julia shook her head vigorously.

Fire snapped in Murdoch's eyes and he dragged a gasping Julia towards the body covered in a sheet, "that could have been you!" he snarled giving her another not so gentle shake, "who ever put that snake there wanted one of us dead and until I know which one of us, you are staying in the safest place here, with the Queen."

Neither of them noticed Vishnu stepping back out of the room or the orders he muttered to them.

"I am not cowering behind Eudora or putting her in danger," Julia snapped trying to tear out of his grasp, it annoyed her even more when she couldn't budge him.

Murdoch's grip tightened and Julia's eyes widened in shock, this was completely unlike the Murdoch she knew, he looked cold and harsh, and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he would not hesitate to pick her up and carry her to the queen's quarters.

"What happened to your promise, William, you swore never to force your will over mine." She stopped struggling and tried to reason to his conscience.

"Do you not realize that you are everything to me?" William pulled her closer to him, "I am a shadow when you are not here. Every moment you are not at my side I fear and I cannot function when you are in danger. I made you an insane promise to get you to the alter and I do not regret it, but I will break that promise and any other over and over again if I have to, because where your safety is concerned I have no honor, no conscience and no duty."

Julia shook her head and sighed, "I'm a doctor William, it's not just what I do it is what I am. I will go to Eudora for today, but tonight I am back in your bed with you, and tomorrow I go back to my patients," she said firmly.

William kissed her and unlocked his fingers from her arms, he lead her to the door where Jeet waited, "I will take Lady Doctor to the Maharani," he said giving her a small worried smile.

Julia let them surround her and with her head held high walked away. Murdoch watched her, every instinct in him demanding he drag her back and hold onto her with all his might.

"She will be safe with Dora, I have ordered an extra guard on our apartments and they are both confined there until I say otherwise", Vishnu said on a sigh, they both contemplated the very real danger of their wives rage when that little fact came to light.

"Good, but I am not sure they are out of danger," Murdoch said, starting towards his study, "there is something I need to check first, but I am starting to suspect that whoever did this is very close, and I fear the intended victim in the poisoning was not your wife."

Vishnu followed him, "if not Dora then who?"

Murdoch stood before the board, eyes narrowed, then rifling through his notes pulled out one of the victim statements.

"Julia." He said on a growl.


	16. Chapter 15

Eudora was waiting for her as Julia stepped into the Queen's quarters, the day had only just started but already she was tired out, and worried.

"I heard, I am so sorry," Dora said putting a gentling arm around her and leading her into a small very comfortable room, the soft love chairs, and luxurious divans, the Greek urns and pillars on the wall, all a perfect reflection on Eudora's double life, both Greek and Indian.

"I've ordered a bath to be drawn for you in a spare bedroom," she said.

Julia winced only then realizing that she still wore the rumpled outfit she'd gone to bed in the night before.

She allowed Eudora to pamper her a little, but once she'd bathed and consumed enough tea to float a small vessel, Eudora settled down beside her. The queen was unusually twitchy, her hands constantly plucking at her clothing as she fidgeted in the chair.

"I need to ask you a favor," she finally said when they were alone. Julia put down her tea cup-

"Anything," she replied.

"I want you to examine me, tell me if I am barren," she said it fast, spitting the words out as if afraid just saying them would make it become a fact. Julia tried not to let the pity show on her face, she knew enough about the diminutive Queen to know pity was the last thing Eudora would accept, ever.

"We have the time now if you want," Julia said gently, and Eudora heaved a sigh and nodded, "very well, this is what will happen, I will first ask you a lot of personal questions, some of them extremely intimate, please understand I am not prying, or being nosy, they are all things that I need to know for a correct diagnosis," she waited while Eudora cocked her head then nodded, "after the questions, I will perform an internal examination, it is uncomfortable and unpleasant, however again it is necessary." When the Queen nodded again, Julia rose and waited for Eudora to join her.

"We will need my doctor bag and a private room, a table and some sheets," she ordered.

Two hours later Julia washed her hands while Eudora slipped back into her clothing. "I can see no reason for you not to conceive, your cycle is regular, and everything is where it should be," she said, drying her hands. Eudora smiled, and there was a world of relief in her face.

"Then the problem is with Vish?" she asked frowning, Julia shrugged unwilling to accuse the King of being infertile.

"Not necessarily, the problem could be a number of things, old injury, constricting clothing, even diet," Julia hedged, for now lets get a little history on his side of the family," she went silent as a servant brought in more tea. Eudora settled down deeper into the chair, "don't think I can't see your devious plan here Julia," she said with a very stern face belied be the twinkle in her eyes, "I told you I would not tell you more until you told me something of your story," she waved the servant away and nodded when Julia started to pour.

"Forgive me your majesty, but at this moment you are my patient," Julia tried for stern but it came out with a snort of laughter when Eudora blew a raspberry.

"Fine, what do you want to know," the queen grinned, "but be warned when this is over I will demand to know more about you and that very proper detective you are married to."

"From what you have told me Vishnu's grandfather had a happy amount of children, but you have not mentioned if Vishnu has any siblings?"

The laughter left Eudora's face and she shook her head, "he had a brother, much younger than him," Eudora hesitated a moment her face lost in the past, and Julia settled back hardly daring to breath lest she stopped talking, "when we eloped we had no intention of coming back here for a long time, my father was angry but he did not disown me, so we intended to make our home either in England or Greece. We felt it best to give Vish's father time to settle into the idea. Vish was going to come alone first, he refused to place me in any kind of danger and while the Maharaja was not a vicious man, temper could make him decide to have me executed," there was no humor in her face and Julia wondered just what kind of man the late Maharaja Krupal had been, "we got word not even a full week after our nuptials that Vish's mother had committed suicide," she whispered the words her voice laced with horror, "she jumped off the mountain taking Ravinandan with her,"

Julia reeled back at the sickening horror, "how old was he?" she asked softly and Eudora was silent for a long moment.

"A little over three years old," she took a shuddering breath, "Krupal had a heart attack two days later and Vishnu became king."

"Shraddha was waiting for us the minute we arrived, she did not waste a moment telling Vishun that he'd brought shame and death to the family, that his mother had jumped to her death because she could not bear the shame, and with that had caused the king's demise too," Eudora turned tormented eyes to her, "she tore his heart to shreds that day. Vish loved his father, and adored his mother, but Ravi was the light of his life." She shook her head, "I did not think my husband would ever recover from the loss, but he took up the throne and proved that he was a strong and honorable King."

Julia tasted salt on her lips and realized she was crying, she reached out without thought and took Eudora's hand, "I am so very sorry," she said.

* * *

"Julia? You think the poisoning was aimed at your wife?" Vishnu asked, shaking his head, "she'd not even been here more than a few hours when it all happened. It is impossible for Hussein to have set it up and equally impossible for her to have made an enemy here. No, I fear you must be mistaken," he shook his head.

Murdoch said nothing as they stepped into his study, the notes on the case were already filed in folders and he rifled through them now.

"It is the only thing that makes sense. Why now, why attempt on her majesties life now after all these years?"

"There have been attempts on our lives before." Vishnu stated with a cold shrug.

"From inside the palace?" Murdoch asked looking up from his notes.

Vishnu shook his head, "no, never this close."

"Then what changed? Have you employed any new people? Angered anyone more than before?" Murdoch was in interrogation mode and while Vishnu narrowed his eyes at the tone he nevertheless answered.

"Not to my knowledge, and I would know. I do not allow anyone near my wife and those under my protection without a thorough investigation into their past," he stated.

"I interviewed all the servants and the survivors from that incident, and I am almost sure I have an idea where the poison was," he hesitated, then frowned, "does your wife take her tea sweetened?"

Vishnu blinked then shook his head, "Eudora loves chocolate, but she has no liking for the sugary syrup used so liberally on nearly everything here," his eyes widened and darkened in anger as he understood where Murdoch was heading.

"It was in the syrup?" he asked ice dripping from ever word. Murdoch nodded, he pointed to the tea set sitting on the table in the background on one of the photographs.

"I asked what that extra small jug was for," he pointed to it, "and I was told it was a syrup boat, since you do not use granulated sugar here," he turned to another photograph taken in the same room but a different angle, Vishnu came closer as Murdoch pointed to a small dark stain barely discernible along the bottom half of the wall and on the floor, "one of the children remembers the Ayah Nita dropped the syrup while pouring their tea," he said then went back to his notes, "one of the other maids remembers clearing away the remains of the tray from the Queens quarters after Julia and she left to come to the audience chamber. She placed it on a small table outside the room while she went to clean up the room in preparation for when the Queen's party returned, she does not remember if the syrup boat was on the tray when she went back to fetch it, but one of the other Ayah's, Pakhi, does think she saw Nita taking something off the tray."

Vishnu studied the photographs, "tea time, the children would have been hungry and restless," he murmured, "Nita helps out in the kitchen as well as her job a junior Nanny with the children," he continued and Murdoch was impressed how well Vishnu knew his household.

"She would have been even more under stress with the extra work of having a guest in the quarters, and the children would have been especially excited and unruly. I can well imagine she would have filched the syrup boat off that tray rather then run all the way back to the kitchen," he said giving Murdoch a knowing look, they both knew how far away the kitchen was.

"She was also the first to succumb," Murdoch reminded him gently, and Vishnu winced, "she probably took her tea before she poured for the children, to calm her nerves," he said and Vishnu nodded.

"Once I established where the poison might have been, I started questioning the servants. It is a very well known fact that the Queen does not like syrup, either in her tea or on the confectionary, which means unless the Queen serves her ladies in waiting from her own tray…"

"… that poison could only have been meant for Doctor Ogden." Vishnu finished, "but who?" he asked.

Murdoch moved to the window, "We have been here a little over a week, and in that time Julia has not slept in her own bedchamber," he said calmly, Vishnu cleared his throat but said nothing, neither men were accustom to revealing such private matters to anyone.

"Only by chance were we in her chamber last night," Murdoch continued and Vishnu's eyes once again iced over with rage.

"Only someone within this household would know your sleeping habits," he hissed and Murdoch nodded.

"Yes, someone not only in your household, but in mine too," he said waving his hand to indicate the guest apartments.

Vishnu pulled out a chair and sat down, "amazing how you came to this conclusion, however I take it you don't yet know who? Or why?"

Murdoch sighed but shook his head, "not yet, but the list of suspects has become much shorter," he said.

"I would like to be there when you interrogate those suspects Detective, I might have some insight that would help."

Murdoch nodded, "I would appreciate that Sire, however I need to find out a little more background on my suspects before I question them."

"Eudora will be only too happy to help you there, she knows the life story of nearly every one in the palace," he rose and headed to the door, "I will tell the guards you are free to any part of the palace, including my private quarters," he stated and with a nod left.

Murdoch did not need to be told that did not include the Harem. His gaze fell on the steel frame on his desk and he picked it up, turning it around as he studied it. Moving to the door he carefully closed it and went to his desk, "you might as well come out of there Avi," he said softly.

Avi crawled out of the leg space at his desk with a wicked grin on his face, "you always know where I am Detective," he laughed.

Murdoch did not smile in return, "you saved my life today. Thank you."

Avi shrugged, "I did not see who put the beast in your bed, " he said with a head waggle. "I come to tell you that bad Prince not giving up, and Xui not dead," he said and fear replaced the cocky grin.

Murdoch turned to him and frowned. "Just how would you know that?" he asked, and Avi gave him a look of annoyance and defiance at the same time, Murdoch sighed, "Julia is going to skin us both alive if you keep putting yourself in danger, you are supposed to be hiding in the village," he groused.

"He is coming, the bad Prince is no longer in Afghanistan, he's in China, where Xui's people are I think he collects more bad men to come back here." Avi cleverly diverted Murdoch's focus off him.

Murdoch opened a small cupboard and pulled out a bin of rolled papers, it did not take him long to find the one he was looking for and unrolling it he shoved things off his desk as they both studied the large map.

"Is there a passage from China to here?" He asked studying the map, Avi shrugged, and Murdoch stood back.

"I'll have to warn Vishnu," he said, "you are to go find a place to stay in the village and keep your head down," he said fishing in his pocket and handing him a handful of coins.

Avi rolled his eyes but took the money and slipped out the window.


	17. Chapter 16

The guard was incredibly helpful, when asked, he took Murdoch directly to the King's private study without any expression on his stoic face, he did not even go ahead to announce him when they got to the door. Simply reached over knocked once, opened the door, and ushered him in ahead.

"Detective?" Vishnu looked up from the mountain of papers piled on his massive desk, an elderly man stood at his side.

"I apologize for interrupting," Murdoch said and with a short bow started to turn back to the door.

"No stay," Vishnu ordered, then turning to the older man, "go have some tea Baba, we can continue this in an hour."

When they were alone Vishnu rose and lead Murdoch through a side door into a small library. It had the very male decor of big leather chairs, and dark wood, from floor to paneled ceiling the bookshelves lined every wall, and a carved ornate desk in deep cherry wood sat with it's back to a section of very ancient leather tomes. It looked like a men's club room. Vishnu went to the tray of crystal decanters and poured himself a shot. He poured water into the other glass and handed it to Murdoch.

"You may interrupt me at any time Detective, my staff and guard have been informed of that," he settled into one of the leather chairs and indicated that Murdoch sit in the one cater-cornered from him.

Murdoch sat, his mind trying to find a way of formulating what he needed to say without putting Avi in danger of discovery.

"I imagine you have people watching Hussein?" he asked carefully, Vishnu frowned but nodded.

"Of sorts, I have sent some to watch the trails and roads in and out of the mountains, there are only four routes, one east to India, where we stopped the bandits with your wife, two through the mountains going to Afghanistan and the last one is a very narrow passage through the mountains to China. It is the original silk route that traders have used since before this palace was built," Vishnu explained, his eyebrow raising in question as Murdoch uncurled the map he clutched in his hand and rising placed it on the desk. Vishnu followed him.

"Show me the one to China," Murdoch asked and Vishnu narrowed his eyes but leaning forward pointed to a small barely discernible line squiggling through the massive mountain range.

"I take it you have had word from your young spy that Hussein is in China?" Vishnu asked and Murdoch jerked as if stung, his eyes flew up to meet the king's patient hooded gaze.

"I have told you I know everything that goes on in my home Detective, the boy is indeed fleet footed and as agile as a cat, but my men are responsible for the lives of everyone that lives within these walls, including their own families. They spotted him the day they caught you trying to break into the harem," Vishnu told him, and Murdoch winced but said nothing.

"I told them to watch him but not interfere unless he proves to be a danger, since he reports to you on Hussein and does not try to enter the rest of the palace, I have no reason to hinder him." Vishnu returned to his chair and settled into it, watching Murdoch with humor in his eyes.

Murdoch stood flummoxed for about a second before he chuckled and went to sit beside the king.

"I apologize your Majesty, I did not want to place the boy in danger, and he truly is no threat to anyone, except perhaps Julia's last nerve," he sighed and Vishnu grinned.

"I imagine he's told you that Hussein is no longer in Afghanistan?" he finally said humor bleeding off his face, Murdoch nodded taking a drink from his glass and wishing he'd asked for more than water.

"China, and there is more," he hesitated, "Xui is with him, from what I gather they are building an army,"

Vishnu shook his head, "that would be foolish, this palace is almost impenetrable and it would take a very large army to even make a dent," he said, then hesitated, his eyes going vague and cold, "but if he had a sure way into the palace he would not need a large army," Vishnu put his glass down with a snap and sat up, "my second in command has not returned from his last trip to China," Vishnu stated and rose moving back to the map, "he has not contacted Shraddha, his mother either. I fear something may have happened to him, if Hussein and the bandit have captured him, it is very possible they will use him as collateral," he said as he moved to sit behind the desk, letting the map roll back.

"You do not think he went willingly?" Murdoch asked carefully, Vishnu shook his head and grimaced.

"Dora does not like him, but Lankesh loves this country, he would never betray it and since we grew up as close as brothers, while he disapproves of my choice in wife, he is loyal to the throne," Vishnu rubbed his face, "No Lankesh is no traitor, he is family and Hussein would know that."

"How?" Murdoch asked, and Vishnu frowned at him, "how would Hussein know Lankesh is family? He is your second in command, and I imagine that would make him of value to ransom but not enough to open your gates to an invasion," Murdoch studied Vishnu, "you have a reputation of being a hard, cold man, a reputation that I believe you have nurtured very carefully. Hussein would not know any different," he said, Vishnu rose and moved to the desk.

"You are correct," he muttered, "which means he has another use for Lankesh," there was sorrow in his face when he looked up and met Murdoch's eyes. He did not need to say out loud what they were both thinking, Hussein would be at this moment torturing Lankesh for a way into the palace.

Both Eudora and Julia found the confinement to her apartments frustrating and stifling. Poor Jeet had borne the blunt of that frustration as both women tried to leave and were turned back. Now he stood inside the door looking miserable, his King, not trusting his devious wife, had ordered him to stand inside the outer door just incase he was needed.

What the King really meant was he was to keep an eye on both women, though Jeet had no idea what he was supposed to do should he discover them trying to escape, that part his King had not explained to him, though he assumed he was not allowed to tie them up and throw them in the dungeon, tempting as that was right at that moment.

"I am your Queen, how dare you bar my way!" Eudora snarled at him, hands on hips eyes sparking fire, Julia stood behind her a simmering anger in her gaze. Jeet wanted to slide his head inside his body like a turtle.

"I am so sorry Majesty, but my King, your husband," he added the last with a pointed snap as if she needed reminding, "has ordered that you stay in the safety of this apartment," he said firmly.

Eudora stepped closer to him, the fire had become volcanic, "you are moving very close to insubordination, I don't care if you are Vishnu's cousin, I will have the skin flogged off your back!" she snapped nearly nose to nose with him.

For a long second Jeet met her gaze, then seemed to crumple in on himself and tormented pain radiated in his gaze a second before he focused on a point just over her shoulder.

"If your Majesty leaves these premises I have failed in my duty to my King, honor would demand that I take my life, and that my family leave their home to live in exile for the shame that I have brought on them. The skin on my back will regrow and I would rather suffer a flogging than to see you harmed because I failed," he replied softly.

Eudora stepped back as if he'd slapped her, without another words she turned and taking Julia's hand dragged her back down the passage into one of her sitting rooms.

"Something is very wrong with Jeet," Julia said as Eudora released her hand and paced the room.

"Yes, that was not like him at all," Dora said a worried frown on her face, "I think we need to find out what it is bothering him," she said and with a sigh rose and headed back out to Jeet, dragging a stuffed chair behind her. It made an obscene grating sound loud enough to wake the dead, and Julia winced with every bump the obviously expensive piece of furniture was bounced over.

Jeet watched her coming with the wide eyed surprised look of a cornered deer, when she dumped the chair in front of him and settled herself into it, he tried to stay stiff and straight, staring over her head, but after ten minutes of having his Queen staring at him he drew a sigh and met her eyes.

"She broke the engagement," he finally said, Eudora frowned and rose placing a compassionate hand on his arm.

"I am sorry Jeet, did she give a reason?" Eudora asked perching precariously on the side of the chair, Julia jumped and sat in the chair just as it started to tip over. Eudora gave her a sunny smile of thanks.

Jeet looked at Julia and quickly looked away, but Eudora's eyes narrowed, "the scarf?" she asked and Julia perked up suddenly understanding. Jeet had given her a scarf to cover her head when the guards brought her in, at the time Gopal had made a comment on it but it had been a gift and Jeet would not accept it back.

"Oh for heaven sakes!" she snapped nearly rising from the chair and tipping the queen on the floor, but she remembered just in time and settled back down.

"I'll explain it to her, tell me where she is and we will clear this up, I'll even give it back to her personally," she said.

Jeet frowned at her and shook his head, "I do not understand, you gave it back to her already, in pieces," he said and there was an undercurrent of anger in that.

Julia blinked at him confused, "I did what?"

Eudora rose, her face suddenly pale, "Oh no…" she whispered, then turned to Julia and grabbed her arm.

"It's Salina," she hissed.

Julia looked around expecting to see Saline coming up behind them, Eudora shook her arm bringing her attention back to her.

"Jeet's fiancé is Salina." She said, and the penny dropped for Julia, she remembered Salina's hate filled gaze as she'd screamed obscene accusations of demons and witchcraft on her first day here.

Julia turned to push past Jeet, giving him a no nonsense snarl when he moved to stop her, "I'm going to warn Murdoch, she already proved that she does not care how many innocent people she kills trying to get to me, and your King is with him." She said. Jeet went pale, and again he and Eudora exchanged a look. Julia narrowed her eyes and turned to the Queen, "what else are you not telling me?" she demanded.

Eudora shook her head and pushed her back towards the door, "form a guard around us if you must but we are going," she said to Jeet.

Jeet snapped an order and let them through the door, moving ahead of them "the Detective is with the King," he said, "they have just returned from visiting the town," misery in every line of his body.

There was nothing either Eudora or Julia could say to him to make him feel better, so they did not even try, simply hurried behind him with nearly twenty guards surrounding them.

Julia saw Murdoch first, he was standing beside a scruffy looking man in the entry courtyard. She did not spare the man a glance as she rushed to her husband's side.

"I know who's trying to kill me," she said in a rush as he saw her and strode to meet her, fury in his eyes.

"Salina,"

"Salina,"

They both said at the same time, Murdoch put an arm around her waist; they blinked at each other in surprise.

"How…?"

"Where?"

Julia grinned as they once again spoke in simultaneously, and nodded for him to go first,

Murdoch urged her to his side and looking around carefully started to heard her towards the door.

"We spoke to the village healer, he runs a herbal stall, it's the only place she could have bought the poison, and when we discovered that he was also missing one of the snakes that he uses to milk for venom, we knew our killer had been there," he turned a jaundiced eye to the man now walking beside them, and Julia turned and looked directly into the King's golden eyes. She stumbled nearly missing a step, and Eudora snickered a little, she'd obviously seen her husband's disguise before.

"Once his majesty decided to stop withholding vital information it was not difficult to recognize his description of Salina despite the disguise she used," Murdoch stated as they moved towards the King's quarters.

Jeet followed them his shoulders hunched, he did not need to speak English to understand what they were talking about, and humiliation and shame flowed from him in waves.

Eudora was the first to react, once inside the study, she grabbed Jeet's arm and pulled him in with them, giving her husband a meaningful look.

"What vital information," Julia asked also stepping towards Jeet, ready to leap to his defense should things go badly for him, he was her friend despite what it had cost him and she would not see him harmed now for loving the wrong woman.

Vishnu folded his arms across his chest and gave her and Murdoch a very hard look, "I did not withhold it, I simply did not see the need to speak of my own bad conduct or shame Salina and Jeet by speaking of our past," he said.

Then waving both women and Murdoch aside he stepped up to Jeet and placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder, "there is no shame on you for what Salina has done, she is unwell and we both know the reason for that lies with me," Vishnu said quietly.

"Salina was the woman Vish's father had arranged for him to marry," Eudora said softly, "he'd even brought her into the palace and set her up in the harem in preparation for the official engagement and wedding," she continued.

"When we eloped it left her destitute, she could not go back to her family as that would bring dishonor on them," she sighed shaking her head, "by rights Vish should have married her anyway…"

Vishnu stepped back and tapped his wife on the nose, "but I could not do that, it would have been wrong to both women. By marrying Salina I would have damaged my Dodo's heart and tied Salina in marriage to a man that would never love her or be a husband to her." He sighed and turned back to Jeet, "she wanted to stay, and she seemed content to work with the children. When Jeet asked for her in marriage and she accepted we were both relieved and overjoyed."

A knock on the door had Jeet stepping back and Vishnu called enter. Gopal stepped into the room, a quick worried look to Jeet and he bowed to his King.

"She is gone Majesty, we had her quarters searched and questioned the women, she left early this morning," Gopal said softly, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"She was dressed for riding this morning," Jeet said also keeping his eyes on the floor and his head bowed, "I tried to speak to her, about…to apologize…" words failed him and his shoulders shook. Gopal broke protocol ad stepped to him, putting a gentle comforting hand on his shoulder.

He and Vishnu exchanged a look and Vishnu nodded, "Go find her Jeet, bring her home," he said softly, when Jeet shot him a shocked and terrified look Vishnu shook his head, "I do not want her harmed, she is ill, her mind is ill," he raised a questioning brow to Julia and she gave a sigh of relief and nodded vigorously.

"Doctor Ogden holds no ill will towards her, and she is a qualified in dealing with Salina's illness, which is why I am sending you to bring her back, because I know you will keep her safe, even from herself." He said and Gopal gave his king a deep bow of gratitude, absolute respect on his face, he led Jeet out the room.

Julia would have said something, expressed her gratitude, but when Eudora grabbed her husband's head in both her hands and dragged him down for a very long and heated kiss, she blushed crimson and let an equally flustered Murdoch drag her out of the room.

"Ehm, yes, well," Julia said and giggled, Murdoch kept walking and since he had her hand in an iron grip she had no choice but to trot behind him. She suddenly realized by the very rigid set of his shoulders that he was angry. Tugging at his hand she found that he was obviously not in the mood to release her, "William?" she barely got the words out of her mouth before she as swung around and shoved up against a wall, Murdoch pressed against her.

It was then that she realized two things, the first was that he was not angry, but very aroused and the second that he had pushed them into some sort of small storage room.

"What is your fascination with accosting me in broom closets Detective Murdoch?" she whispered silkily as his mouth nipped and lathed at her neck, his hands inching up her tunic as his knee pushed between her thighs.

"I need you. Now," it came out a deep feral growl, and her lower body clenched and ached in answer. Her moan of surrender was drowned against his mouth as he took it in a heated kiss that left her trembling and gasping for air.

Murdoch stepped back only long enough to flip her around until she was facing the smooth cold stone. The combination of his heated body pressed against her back and the cold against her front was both agonizing and erotic beyond words.

Her breasts peaked and she shuddered and cried out as he yanked up her tunic and pressed her against the wall, with one hand spread on her lower back holding her firmly in place, he tore her trousers down ripping the tiny buttons that held them to her ankles as he shredded them off her, the sound of the silk hissing as it tore, and the feel of cold air on her heated flesh made her cry out as arrows of desire drove her closer to the edge, and when he kicked her legs further apart she instinctively arched her back, begging, demanding and enticing him to fill her, to let go of his phenomenal will power and take her in a frenzy.

He hissed once, and slammed into her with a force that rocked her against the wall, his hands on her hips hauled her back into every deep punishing thrust. Julia exploded, crying out as the pleasure pain rocked through her in never ending waves, her inner muscles clenched around him shoving Murdoch over and with a muffled roar he held onto her, his fingers digging into her hips.

They both collapsed against the wall, Murdoch's arm around her waist cradled her from the cold stone while he gently slid out of her. For a long moment he just held her, before he pulled back, gently pulling her tunic down to cover her. Julia turned a sated smile towards him, it slid off her face when she saw the guilt in his face.

"Blast it William!" she swore, and Murdoch's eyebrows shot to his hairline, ignoring it she grabbed his shirt in her fists and hauled him closer, or as close as he let her.

"Stop that," she snapped, and Murdoch frowned, putting an arm around her and holding her close.

"A man does not accost his wife against the wall in a broom closet," he said on a sigh as he rested his forehead against hers, "I'm apalled at how little control I have around you."

Julia resisted rolling her eyes, and cupping his face in her hands she looked into his eyes, "he does if he wants a very happy and contented wife." She said giving him a gentle kiss. Then stepping back she looked down at her lack of pants and blushed crimson. Her trousers were in tatters, and it took some creative use of her surgery skills to wind and knot them together enough for her to make it back to their quarters without being completely indecent.

"I love your mind. it's what I fell in love with in the first place," she said winding a hand through his arm as they strolled back to their apartments, "but knowing I can make that phenomenal brain of yours shut down for want of me is the most erotic thing, especially knowing that I am not alone when you make me lose my mind."

Murdoch stopped just outside the door to their apartment, a small mischievous smile on his face, "did I mention that in my reading I have found that there are indeed many, many more very interesting things I'm eager to try out on you? " he asked as he swung her up into his arms and carried her over the threshold. Julia laughed and wound her arms around him.

"Do your worst Detective!"

* * *

Salina climbed off her horse, the cold mountain air biting at her clothing, she'd packed herself up as warm as she could but still she shivered, her fingers burning as she forced them open to release the bridle. Her horse whinnied and moved closer to her, as if sensing she needed the warmth.

Standing here in the icy mountains looking down at the colorful valley so far bellow, the palaces glowed golden and red from up here, and the little village, looked like a spill of multi colored jewels tucked up beside it.

For a moment she was taken back ten years, to the first time she had seen it, excitement, anticipation and a little nervousness had filled her then, along with a deep joy. Her family had been so proud, she, the second daughter of a second son, was marrying a future King. The honor that brought to her family and to her had been deeply profound, the fact the prince had chosen her out of all the women in her family a wonder.

Her older sister Nirmala was wracked with jealousy, her mother had sent Nirmala away to prevent her from harming Salina. Salina did not need to tell her mother that Nirmala had done a lot worse in the past. Even now she put a hand to her head, feeling the deep scare that ran along her crown.

How safe she'd felt as the women in the Palace welcomed her as their future queen, the wonderful apartments they placed her in, her own servants puffed up with the luxury and wonder of her new home. The Queen herself had welcomed her with a warm embrace, and the King had let her touch his feet, even blessing her with a hand on her head.

He'd called her his daughter, and she'd been so overjoyed the world had exploded into color and light around her. She was filled with both shyness and excitement to meet her future husband, the picture of his handsome face and strong body had filled her dreams until she'd woke up blushing but hugging the memory to herself in eager anticipation.

How quickly her bright happiness turned to dark horror, loss and pain. The day the palace had exploded around her in wailing and sadness. When the messenger brought news to the King and he'd exploded, his shouts of rage echoing around the palace, the poor messenger had thrown himself on the floor in a desperate plea for mercy.

The women in the quarters had been wide eyed with fear and shock, and then the whispers had started, the covetous looks of pity, one by one her new friends turned from her, even the Queen refused to see her. For long days she'd stayed in her rooms afraid to go out, and no one came to her. Only her servants made sure she ate, and as days turned into weeks she thought that she would be left here to die, forgotten and unwanted.

They didn't even come to tell her the King had passed, or that the Queen and her little son were gone. Cut off from everything , even her servants stopped talking to her, as if she were invisible, and for a long time she thought that maybe she was invisible. She became convinced that she was dead and was even now a ghost haunting her rooms with nowhere to go.

The new Queen found her like that, a pale ghost sitting in the window of her room watching the world below. Eudora had offered her kindness and friendship, and in a life so starved of both Salina had jumped at it with all her heart and mind.

Her life was not what she'd once thought, but still she had fought and clawed her way back to happiness. Her beautiful Jeet with his happy smile and gentle heart filled that empty place inside her and she was once again excited at the thought of becoming a wife, of having a home and family of her own. Until that Devil woman came and destroyed it all, that spawn from hell, with her golden hair and cool knowing eyes, the others might not see the evil lurking inside that tall figure, but she saw it, she saw the horned grotesque beast that lived under the disguise.

Hatred hardened her heart, and warmed her with its fiery rage, and she swung back onto her horse and headed over the mountain. She would root out that evil if she had to destroy everything and everyone to do it. In the end they would understand and love her again.


End file.
